


GREEN

by kurgaya



Series: brilliant colours [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Background Namikaze Minato/Uzumaki Kushina, Canonical Character Death, Don't copy to another site, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Team Bonding, Trans Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-21
Updated: 2019-04-02
Packaged: 2019-11-01 19:12:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 26,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17873162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kurgaya/pseuds/kurgaya
Summary: “I'm a medic," Kakashi explains with a shrug. "Senju Code demands that medics do everything in their power to keep their team alive.”“But we're not dying,” Obito says.“You can go back to the Academy if you want,” Kakashi drawls, praying for patience. “Another year there is basically dying.”[Medic!Kakashi AU. One moment is enough. Sakumo's suicide and the formation of Team Minato].





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well. I didn't actually think this would ever be happening, but your responses to WHITE inspired me to crack down on this fic :)
> 
> The first scene deals with Sakumo's suicide and is the reason for the angst warning. The other canonical death is Dai, but that's off-screen. Rolling with another trans!Kakashi fic here cause why not. Just a head's up that there's an instance of Kakashi being deadnamed once and another of Obito being pretty ignorant. These kids are nine, but they'll learn. (Nein!)

Kakashi pauses at the exit from the Administration building with his new chūnin vest folded over his arm. Rainwater pitter-patters down onto the streets of Konoha; it drums across the roof and pours down the gutters, splattering over the sidewalk with a hazardous spray. The evening chill is wet and heavy as it slogs in through the open door. Kakashi tips his face up to the storm and sees lightning flicker in the dark, white bolts leaping from cloud to cloud. Thunder rumbles overhead: he'd barely heard it in the midst of the chūnin exam, but now it quakes like the forests of Fire marching along the borders. His chakra shares its affinity with this sky - and he smiles because of it, letting sparks dance across his fingertips.

His father used to love this weather, too, but Sakumo hasn't loved anything in a long while.

Kakashi sighs and contemplates using the chūnin vest as an umbrella. Receiving one is traditional upon promotion, but a single glance at the jacket in the Hokage's office confirmed that it isn't going to fit. At six, Kakashi must be one of the youngest chūnins in Konoha's history, and he's proud to be. His father is Konoha's White Fang; his mother was ANBU Kingfisher. Kakashi has to do them proud, especially in Asuka's absence and Sakumo's misery, since the mission, now that their family name isn't worth its weight in mud. If his mother was still alive, maybe things would be different. Kakashi can barely remember when his father last smiled, and he can't remember anything about his mother at all.

But now Kakashi's a chūnin, _a success_ , so maybe his father will smile. An awkwardness has arisen between them since the mission, and it's gone on for too long. Kakashi can't take the silence anymore. He can take the distrust from shinobi and the hate from the village, he can take pain and hunger and long, tiresome missions out beyond Fire's lands, but he can't live with the lonely dinners and the days, _the days_ , between seeing his father haunt the Hatake compound at _all_.

The chūnin vest is a rubbish umbrella, all things considered, but it survives the journey home. The rain seems heavier over the Hatake compound, swelling the edge of the forest so that the trees loom and the soil squelches as Kakashi trudges through. The path to the main entrance is in disrepair, and now it seems to float like a line of carcasses along a muddy river. He slips through the outer wards and jumps up the steps to the front door. The inner wards allow him through with a flash of chakra, and overhead, the sky rumbles a warning before crackling with a million volts.

Kakashi tastes ozone and earth in the back of his mouth. They are Hatake smells; ones he associates with his family. The burn of lightning is as familiar as the _wet dog_ stink of his father's wolves post-mission, after Sakumo wrestles them into the river. Thunderstorms are nothing to be afraid of, and yet fear bolts down Kakashi's spine as he opens the door.

The stench of blood makes him gag. The house is _damp_ with it. Kakashi clamps a hand over his mouth, his eyes watering. The chūnin vest slips out of his grasp. It slumps like a wet rag down onto the floor. He steps past it, shoes slopping as he bolts through the house: the only light to guide him is the white-blue flash of the sky, thunder crashing over the rooftop in time with Kakashi's heart, with the doors slamming open, the kitchen, the study, even the _shoji_ leading to the porch, rain and wind slapping into the house.

His father's bedroom - _his father_ , crumpled down onto the floor. He's motionless. Blood covers the floor beneath him; he's lying in it, back to the door, the tip of his ponytail dyed red in the gore. White-knuckled hands still grip the hilt of a blade. Kakashi falls to his knees at his father's side, but even the _crack_ of lightning doesn't stir Sakumo; not even Kakashi rolling him over, choking on bile at the tantō shoved in his father's gut. Sakumo's eyes are silver, empty. Kakashi can barely see through the rain and the dark and the _blood_ \- there's so much blood that it clings to him, seeps up through his gloves to his hands and his elbows and his _hands_ as he slams them against his father's chest, chakra spitting white where it should be _green_.

He sobs breath into his father's mouth, counting to keep himself sane. The tantō jerks with every punch to Sakumo's chest but it's buried deep, intentional; he probably bled out in seconds, died with a gasp still forming in his lungs. Kakashi can almost taste it, that final word, as blood and tears smear over his chin. He can _smell_ it like acid burning down his throat. He flares his chakra high, as high as he can, hoping that someone will notice, hoping that there's anyone who cares enough to investigate.

Kakashi counts until the rain ebs away. His father's chest doesn't rise. Sakumo's skin is grey and cold; they're both cold; Kakashi shivers as the last of the storm wails through the house. But his lips are red where Sakumo's are blue, and his chest heaves for air as he pulls away, useless medical jutsu sputtering under his hands. He can't seem to breathe. White-hot panic burns in his lungs and behind his eyes; he feels sick with it, his throat dry and gasping. Numbness and nausea clash in his chest. Kakashi leans over his father's body and twists his hands into Sakumo's jōnin blues, hearing the shirt tear around the tantō as he drags it down, down with him into a heap on the floor.

“ - val? Kakashi?”

Kakashi peels his eyes open. His head is heavy, there’s blood stuck in his hair. Something green and warm surrounds him: _medical jutsu_ , he wonders, _to save his father?_ But then the floor tips away and small, strong hands grip him tight: not a medical jutsu, then, but a person, maybe two people, _many_ people; suddenly there are too many sounds, too many things trying to touch him and move him. Kakashi struggles and shrieks and pulls lightning into his hands - they're empty, his hands, they're cold and bloody and he was holding something - his father, he was holding his _father_ \- but now they're empty and someone is carrying him and Kakashi _screams_.

And even that doesn’t make his father stir.

 

 

 

**THREE YEARS LATER**

The young jōnin leaning over the bridge almost loses the kunai he's spinning when Kakashi body flickers over. It flies from his finger and goes tumbling into the river as he startles, and it would have most likely been washed away into the depths of the Nara Forest had the man not snatched it from the air. He tries to gut Kakashi with it in the next second, only failing due to Kakashi's rather diminutive height, standing at least a foot shorter than the man's estimation. Instead, the kunai sails over Kakashi's head and embeds itself with a _thwunk!_ into the other side of the bridge, but by that point, Kakashi has already drawn his tantō and tried to shove it through the jōnin's arm. Fortunately - perhaps - the jōnin catches the blade and disarms Kakashi in one, elegant motion, which seems completely at odds with the clumsy idiot he'd been just seconds before, something which they both appear to realise in the same adrenalised breath.

“Wow, you're small,” the jōnin says, flashing a brilliant smile. His happiness is infectious and bright; it's almost as sunny as his shock of shaggy, golden hair. “You should've come at me with the intent to kill.”

“It would've been too embarrassing,” Kakashi drawls, miffed at the _small_ comment. He's tempted to draw another weapon and try again, but the man's stance is entirely too relaxed to be anything but alert. He wrenches himself away from the jōnin, scowling as the man cocks his head like a labrador.

“Oh?”

“For you,” Kakashi clarifies, and the man - _laughs_.

“I think we're going to get along great,” he says, returning Kakashi's tantō (Sakumo’s tantō, the one he used to -) “I'm Namikaze Minato. I didn't hurt you, did I…?”

“Hatake Kakashi. And no, I'm fine. I could've healed myself.”

“Ah,” Minato says, a sound of recollection. He yanks his kunai from the post and twirls it once more before hanging it from a loop at his belt. He’s probably lost a dozen kunai that way, and Kakashi resists the urge to sigh. Minato is just as restless as the pack puppies - less clumsy perhaps, but more dangerous.

“You're plucky for a medic,” Minato adds, proving that he’s just as hare-brained as the puppies, too.

Kakashi doesn't grace that with a reply. There's no need; two young chakra signatures buzz nervously nearby, vaguely familiar to Kakashi and approaching slowly. They must be the recent Academy graduates forming the rest of the three-man team. _Thrilled_ isn't the word Kakashi would use to describe his reaction to the news that he's being lumped with a team. He's sure the Administration team were laughing at him when they handed over the orders, but a lightning-quick glare encouraged them to hold their tongues. Kakashi hasn't exactly been _well-liked_ amongst Konoha's shinobi since his father's mission, but in the three years since Sakumo's suicide, the village, at least, seems to have gotten bored with open hostility. That's probably why they've chosen now to assign him to a team, since no one knew what to do with him in the immediate months following Sakumo's death.

Kakashi certainly won't ever _thank_ Gai and his father, Maito Dai, for their actions that night, but they came when nobody one else would.

“Hatsumomo?” one of the two genin calls, a girl with purple markings over her jaw and cheeks. She's holding the hand of the other genin, a Uchiha boy with ear protectors and an obnoxious pair of orange goggles. At a glance, it seems as though she's holding him for support, but as they make their way up the bridge, it's clear that she's dragging him along.

“It is you!” the girl says, bowing a little in greeting. Kakashi almost misses her question as his brain skips at the sight; people don't _bow_ to him anymore, not sincerely. “Are you on our team?”

 _No_ , Kakashi almost replies. He crosses his arms over his chest, jaw ticking. “I don’t use that name anymore. It’s Kakashi.”

“Kakashi?” the Uchiha repeats, expression twisting incredulously. The goggles obscure his eyes, but Kakashi can just about see them rolling. “That’s a dumb name.”

“ _Obito_ ,” the girl sighs, expression apologetic. “I’m so sorry. It’s nice to meet you, Kakashi.”

“We’ve already met,” Kakashi drawls - not, that is, that he remembers her name. They shared classes at the Academy during the brief period that Kakashi attended. She's an average, unassuming student from what he recalls, probably with an average, unassuming name. Civilian, no doubt. Or maybe her clan has been wiped out just like the Hatakes.

Minato laughs, reminding them all that he’s there. “All right you kids, let’s finish up these introductions. I’m Namikaze Minato and I’m to be your jōnin instructor from now on - provided that you pass the final exam, of course.”

“Finał exam?” Obito asks, and Kakashi wonders if repeating everything is a habit of his. Perhaps his hearing isn’t so good, especially with his ears hidden under those massive earmuffs. “But we already passed the Academy exam!”

“Sure did,” Minato chimes, looking entirely too pleased. “But you’re not genin until I say so.”

“I’m a chūnin,” Kakashi deadpans.

“And I’ll send you back to the Academy in a heartbeat,” Minato says, dazzling a disarming smile. “So - names, likes, dislikes, dreams for the future. Go.”

The team-to-be glance at each other. Obito jumps in first.

“I’m Uchiha Obito! I like cats and sleeping in, and I don’t like loud noises or people touching my earmuffs. I’m going to become the Hokage so that everyone looks up to me!”

“I’m Nohara Rin. I like dango, and reading, and Konoha in the spring. I don’t like bullies. I want to become a strong kunoichi so that I can protect my friends and family.”

“Hatake Kakashi. There’s not much I like. I don’t like people using my old name. My dream is - personal.”

Kakashi's team-to-be blink at the rather lacking reply.

“That’s - awfully generous of you, Kakashi,” Minato says, mouth twitching as he tries not to laugh.

“No it's not,” Obito grumbles, missing Minato’s sarcasm entirely. His face scrunches in irritation, eyes pinching behind the orange glass of his goggles. It’s a dumb expression for a dumb kid, and Kakashi huffs, ruffled by Obito’s scrutiny.

“What about you, sensei?” Rin asks, jumping in before Kakashi can snap something back. Obito's comments are _grating_ and they deserve to be snapped at, but Minato starts to chat away before Kakashi can say anything.

“Me? Oh, well, I like my girlfriend and developing fuinjutsu, and my dream is to perfect the Flying Thunder God technique. I don’t like ramen all that much but my girlfriend would _kill_ me if she knew, so maybe don’t mention that to her, yeah? I’m sure you’ll meet her if you become my team. Now.” Minato’s just as chatty as the pack puppies, too, so it’s a relief when he moves the conversation onto more serious matters. He pulls a pair of bells tied together with string from pocket. “You see these two bells? This is your final exam. You have one hour to take them from me. Anyone who doesn’t get a bell fails. Any questions?”

“Why are there only two?” Rin asks.

“It’s clearly a test,” Kakashi replies, trying not to smack a hand over his face. If Obito is _stupid comments_ then Rin is _stupid questions_. Kakashi, himself, must be _stupid luck_ , because he’s going to be stuck in a team with these two idiots and there’s nothing he can do about it. The Hokage’s orders are absolute - and even if they weren’t, Kakashi isn’t about to _fail_. “What’re the parameters for retrieving the bells?”

“Hey, Rin asked a question!” Obito squawks.

“And I answered it,” Kakashi drawls, rolling his eyes at the red-faced Uchiha. “Sensei?”

Minato's expression is a sigh. He must be rethinking his position as a sensei already. “Just - try to kill me this time,” he says, and the bells chime as he body flickers away.

 

 

 

“Here,” Kakashi says, throwing Rin the bell that he swiped from Minato’s waist. There’s time left on the clock, just under twenty minutes: it won’t be enough to acquire the second bell, especially now with Minato guarding it even fiercer than before, but gaining the bells is hardly the point.

“You… got one?” Obito breathes, as Rin rolls the little silver bell over in her hands. They goggle at him, nine years old and faced with the reality that their teammate-to-be has just outwitted a jōnin.

(Getting the bells isn’t the point of this, but Kakashi likes to think he’s _made a point_ ).

“The other one’s yours, if you can get it,” Kakashi taunts, inclining a bored expression at Obito.

The bell rings as Rin continues to roll it between her fingers. It’s a sure-fire way of revealing their position, but Minato didn’t say anything about trying to win the bells _back_ , so they’re probably safe. “But what about you?”

Kakashi shrugs. “I'm a medic. Senju Code demands that medics do everything in their power to keep their team alive.”

“But we're not dying,” Obito says.

“You can go back to the Academy if you want,” Kakashi drawls, praying for patience. “Another year there is basically dying.”

Rin shivers. “I’m not going back.”

“Me neither. All right, we’ll get that bell,” Obito vows, adjusting his goggles. A fire burns in his eyes, all the brighter through the visor. “And since you're the medic, you have to stay on our team to keep us alive, right? No matter what Minato-sensei says.”

“Guess so,” says Kakashi. “Worry about getting the bell first, idiot.”

They don’t manage to grab the second bell - but Minato passes them all anyway.

 

 

 

“But I’ve completed _dozens_ of D-ranks,” Kakashi argues, trying to throw a bolt of lightning at the mission-scroll in Minato’s hands with nothing but his eyes. “And C-ranks. _And_ B-ranks.”

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear any of that,” Minato says cheerfully, unrolling the scroll to brief them. It's a D-rank, the first of many. All genin begin with weeks and weeks of D-ranks; Kakashi has already filled his quota, and he had to do it by himself. Minato ignores this as he explains, “All right kiddos, we’ve got lots of missions to complete today. D-ranks are a valuable training resource; they’re perfect for genin to practise their skills in a safe environment while also benefiting the village. I want you to do your best as a _team_ \- and if all goes well, I’ll think we’ll have our first team dinner out tonight, whaddaya say?”

“I say this is stupid,” Kakashi replies, as he has been for the past four days. Team Minato hasn’t even officially been active for a week and he’s already about ready to strangle his ridiculous sensei. Minato’s only saving grace are his flashes of sheer _brilliance_ ; he is, in every way, a genius before his time. If anyone can perfect the Second’s Flying Thunder God technique, then it’ll be Minato. Unfortunately, this doesn’t change the fact that Minato’s unflappable cheeriness is exhausting and Kakashi kind-of-really wants to kill him.

“Great!” says Minato. “Let's go catch a cat.”

Kakashi catches the damn cat.

“Stop running _away_ ,” he begs of it, trying to shake some sense into the stupid thing. It just meows pathetically and looks rather sorry for itself, but Kakashi isn't fooled. This time tomorrow, it will have escaped again and another unfortunate genin team will have to retrieve it, so Kakashi just glowers as he leaps from the tree and dumps the cat onto Obito.

“How did you do that?” Rin asks. “Walk up the tree like that?”

Kakashi has to withhold a sigh; he learnt how to tree-walk when he was _five_. “Direct chakra to your feet,” he explains, stepping back onto the side of the tree trunk to demonstrate. He hopes Minato isn't expecting him to teach his teammates _all_ of the basics. “Not too much, though, 'cause otherwise you'll -”

Obito’s chakra _explodes_ , rocketing him and the unsuspecting cat up through the forest canopy. Kakashi covers his face as leaves and dirt detonate around them. Rin shrieks, Obito shrieks, the cat _shrieks_ : it tears itself out of Obito’s arms and then shrieks even more, clawing through the air with a petrified scramble. It plummets back through the treetops with a terrible yowling; they both do, the cat and Obito, grappling for purchase on the branches and leaves. Obito crashes down onto a tree with his chakra flaring like wildfire; it must stick him to a branch because he hangs there like a drunken monkey, but the cat doesn’t have such luck. Rin’s cry of realisation comes a little too late to save it, but fortunately for the cat, Kakashi plucks the dastardly thing right out of the sky.

It doesn’t try and run away, after that.

“Are we sure that’s the same cat?” Minato asks as Kakashi hands the cat back to its owner. He drops his voice to a whisper, leaning close to his team. Blond hair hides his worry from sight. There’s hardly any need for the secrecy since the blubbering from the cat-owner drowns out all other sound, but the cat _has_ been unusually, delightfully tame since Obito almost murdered it. “It’s awfully… quiet.”

“Obito’s just really good with animals,” Kakashi drawls.

Rin doesn’t quite manage to smother her laughter.

By the end of the day, Team Minato have wrangled a pack of Inuzuka dogs on a walk (thanks to Kakashi’s stash of dog-treats), delivered post across the rooftops of Konoha (Obito only fell off a building twice), and painted a six-foot tall fence (while Rin distracted the little old lady in the house from killing them all with her questionably-edible biscuits). Minato splits the earnings and then takes them out for dinner, as promised. He certainly hasn’t earned any of it himself, body-flickering around like a nervous puppy while his team completed _chores_ , and he laughs as Obito accuses him of such.

“I’ve done _plenty_ of D-ranks.”

“So have I,” Kakashi argues, snatching a slice of pork from the barbecue while Minato is distracted.

“Yeah, if Kakashi has to do them, then so do you!” Obito cries. He jabs his chopsticks at Minato accusingly, who has to lean back from the table to avoid losing an eye. “You’re part of this team, aren’t you?”

“Obito!” Rin admonishes, coaxing him back into his seat.

“No, no, he’s right,” Minato says, waving a hand. His face is flushed with colour, embarrassed yet pleased. “We’re a team. I’ll help out next time, okay? But not tomorrow - tomorrow, I want us to spar. I need to gauge your strengths and weaknesses; cover the basics. I see that you're already trying to tree-walk?”

“Kakashi showed us,” Rin says, the purple markings on her cheeks pinching as she smiles. “She’s really good at it - _he_ , he's really good at it, sorry, I'm -”

“Why’re you a _boy_ , anyway? You were put with the _girls_ at school,” Obito demands, nearly stabbing Kakashi's eye out this time.

Only Kakashi's quick reflexes save him; he smacks Obito's wrist away with a scowl. “Well, why are _you_ a boy?” he snaps, drowning out Minato's sigh of _Obito_. At Minato's side, Rin covers her mouth, mortified at having caused an argument. Kakashi would assure her that he doesn't care about an honest slip-up were he not about to tear Obito to shreds. “Because everyone says you are? I stopped listening to the village years ago. I'm a boy because I say I am.”

“You're _weird_.”

“Wearing earmuffs is weird.”

“They're not weird!” Obito cries, covering them protectively. His shout draws the attention of many other customers, but he only raises his voice further. “They're _useful_!”

“Boys -” Minato tries.

Kakashi scoffs. “For what? Making you look stupid?”

“No! They help me focus and stuff!”

“ _Boys_.” Minato's voice is firm, his expression disapproving. Kakashi slumps back into his seat, unable to quell a smug smile at the use of _boys_. It doesn't seem like Minato to rub something into somebody's face to make a point, but Kakashi takes what he can get. In fact, Minato seems not to have noticed the plural at all. “You're a team; accept each other's differences. If you have questions, then discuss them _quietly_. Let's try and finish our meal without getting thrown out of here, huh?”

They manage it - but just barely. As they filter out onto the street afterwards and bid each other goodnight, Minato gestures for Kakashi to wait. Hands in his pockets, Kakashi digs his heels into the path and braces himself for a reprimand, or an apology, or Minato awkwardly trying to assure him that Obito will know better, _someday_. But Minato offers none of those things, and instead pulls Kakashi aside to say:

“I think it’s about time I met your guardians, hmm? What sort of sensei am I if I don’t make a good impression?”

Kakashi would have preferred the reprimand.

“Inviting yourself over doesn’t constitute a good impression, sensei.”

Minato mock-winces. “You’re going to be terrifying when you’re older, you know that, right? I promise I’ll be in and out - just enough time to talk about adult things with your - adult.” He rolls his eyes at himself, muttering _adult, seriously?_ and Kakashi pretends not to hear. Minato flusters, but still tries to be sincere, “Do you think they’ll mind me popping over?”

He’s clearly fishing for information. Kakashi takes pity. “No. Dai’ll probably make you stay for tea. He’s… hospitable.”

Tension eases out of Minato’s shoulders. “You’re staying with the Maito family?”

“I’m not applicable for government-issued housing while the Hatake compound is fit for occupation,” Kakashi explains, but the prospect of him returning to the place of his father’s suicide is _laughable_. The Housing department, of course, refuse to consider Kakashi’s opinion on the matter.

“I… see,” says Minato, his face suggesting that he considers this to be as barbaric as Kakashi does. “Are you happy with the Maito family? It’s - Dai and his son, isn’t it?”

Kakashi shrugs. All things considered, he would prefer to be living elsewhere, but that isn’t a slight against Dai or Gai. It’s the opposite in fact; they’re good people (crazy, but good), and they don’t deserve to be lumped with somebody like Kakashi. Dai, especially, is already a single father, and Kakashi’s a socially-inept mess who still sees his father’s body whenever he closes his eyes. It’s been three years. The hospital kept “forgetting” to make appointments for him after a couple of months; Kakashi hasn’t seen a therapist in years. He passes the stormy nights pacing the Maito’s guest bedroom (it’s not _his_ ; he’s been living there for three years but it’s not his) or curled up in the bathroom throwing up the contents of his stomach. Sometimes he scrubs his hands until he can’t feel them anymore. The hot water burns are good practice for his medical jutsu, if nothing else.

(Hand injuries are serious, but his own hands are less so).

Dai and Gai have just finished dinner when Kakashi walks in. Gai brightens up immediately, as he never fails to do, but whatever flowery declaration he’s decided to greet Kakashi with tonight falters as he catches sight of Minato. He knocks the table as he launches to his feet, red-faced and torn between proprietary and leaping at Kakashi: his good manners win out, and Gai bows as the empty cups and bowls clatter over the table. Rising from the seat opposite, Dai greets Kakashi and Minato in a more typical, calmer manner, beckoning them both over and offering tea.

Minato looks wildly embarrassed at the whole display, ushering Gai back into his seat. Kakashi just rolls his eyes and announces that he’s going to change. He warned Minato and thus feels no pity leaving him with Dai; Gai, on the other hand, chases after Kakashi as he slips back through the house.

“What’s your sensei doing _here_?”

“Being nosy,” Kakashi replies, unfastening his weapons pouches and sliding the tantō harness from his back. He hangs the tantō from the wardrobe and peels off his gloves, throwing them into the laundry hamper. Gai hovers in the bedroom doorway, glancing between Kakashi and the kitchen, where Dai and Minato are conversing in quiet tones.

“How was dinner?”

Kakashi shrugs. The meal itself was kind of nice; he’s used to eating out with Dai and Gai, and no-one else. He can’t remember a time when the village were anything except hostile towards Sakumo, so they rarely left the house. Even shopping was difficult. Kakashi still avoids most of the food vendors in the village, and there are some shops he’ll only enter in disguise. “Fine, I guess.”

“You don’t _sound_ fine,” Gai says. He has an annoying habit of seeing through Kakashi’s bullshit and then addressing it directly, social niceties be damned. It’s as refreshing as it is infuriating; just like Gai’s immunity to Kakashi’s glare.

“It’s nothing. Just Obito being an moron.”

Gai is a lot of strange things, but he isn’t an idiot. “D’you want me to talk with him?”

Kakashi doesn’t deserve a friend like Gai just as much as Gai doesn’t deserve to be stuck with him. “No. It’s nothing, like I said. Quit frowning.”

Gai nods solemnly and then brightens up with a smile. He even offers a thumbs-up, which is just going too far “As long as you’re happy, Rival! But know that I’m prepared to swoop in at any time and -”

Kakashi throws his shirt at him.

 

 

 

“All right kids, let’s take ten,” Minato announces after thoroughly beating his genin-chūnin team into the ground. There’s not a cut or bruise on him, unlike his team, and the only indication that he’s been in a fight at all is that his forehead-protector is missing, clutched triumphantly in Kakashi’s hand.

Kakashi, on the other hand, can hardly feel his legs. Black spots of exhaustion dance in front of his eyes. Obito is face-down on the ground beside him, groaning, and Rin is dabbing a cut to her cheek with a frown. Kakashi half-crawls over to her, medical jutsu glowing around his hands.

Minato looks far too pleased with himself as he hoists Obito up from the ground. “You guys have given me a lot to think about, but I know this team’s going to be great.” He hands out some ration bars and bottles of electrolyte-water, and then pulls a sheet of chakra-induction paper from his vest. He tears off a strip, which he divides into four. “Does anyone know what their chakra affinity is? Kakashi?”

“Lightning,” Kakashi says, watching his slip of paper spark and wrinkle. Lightning-like chakra is a Hatake clan trait - just like his silver hair. The _snap!_ of his father’s chakra is one of the few things that he remembers about him.

“Obito? Rin? Just feed a little bit of chakra into the paper.” Minato holds his up to demonstrate and his paper crackles like Kakashi’s before bursting into flames. Lightning and fire. Two affinities isn’t too unusual, and it’s hardly a surprise for somebody like Minato, but then the fire starts to flicker and swirl as though trapped in a terrible wind, and then it snuffs out completely as the paper splits into two.

Lightning, fire, _and_ wind. Lightning is a rare affinity in Konoha; Kakashi assumed he was the only shinobi left in the village with a talent for it. But having three affinities is almost unheard of. Minato just smiles as he crumples the paper in his hand.

Predictably, Obito’s paper burns up in flames: fire affinity is expected for the Uchiha clan. Rin’s also catches flame, making _three_ members of the team natural fire wielders, but then the paper falls limp between her fingers, soggy, a rush of water dousing the flame.

“Fire and water? Opposing affinities is unusual,” Minato observes, as though his wind affinity isn’t also at odds with his others. Wind is strong against lightning but _weak_ against fire, and Minato has all three. “I don’t have much experience with water affinity, but my girlfriend does. She’ll be able to direct you to appropriate jutsu better than I could. But fire I will be able to help you with - and you as well, Obito. It’s almost a shame none of you have an earth affinity, just for completeness. Anyway. About the _team_.”

Minato sits down in the middle of the training field. They shuffle closer to him, Obito with the reluctance of a sore and battered body. Kakashi hands the forehead-protector back as he had done the bell, and Minato gives him the same proud smile.

“You kids are going to be a well-rounded team. Obito, your chakra reserves are _huge_. Your control needs some work; anyone else would be unconscious after the amount of chakra you’ve leaked today, but we can work on that. You excel in ninjutsu, and even without an awakened sharingan, you’ll be our main attack force.”

Obito fist-bumps the air with a victorious shout and then flops backwards, sprawling out under the sky.

“Kakashi, your chakra reserves aren’t as large but your control is excellent - you’re a medic, so I’m hardly surprised. Ideally, you’ll stay out of the fight and preserve your chakra for healing, so that means less ninjutsu and genjutsu. But we’ve got Obito for that. Genjutsu isn’t your strong point, anyway, is it? I know your taijutsu is exceptional. Do you know the body-flicker technique? Your lightning affinity lends itself to high-speed techniques. You'll need to be able to get yourself out of a pinch, as the medic.”

Kakashi nods. The body-flicker technique is one of the first he picked up from his father - that, and the substitution. Sakumo wasn’t exceptionally fast on the battlefield, but he hit so hard that he never struck twice. Kakashi will be quicker; he’ll be the flash of lightning where his father was the white-hot crash.

“Which leaves Rin,” Minato says, turning to her. “You’re our middle ground. Anything that slips past Obito is going to hit you - and I want it to hit a _wall_. Earth-style jutsu would be ideal here, but I think water-style gives you an opportunity to be creative. You’re pretty well-rounded and that gives you the advantage of versatility. We’ll build up your genjutsu and taijutsu. Don’t worry about ninjutsu so much - the boys will cover that. Your taijutsu _is_ the weakest of the team right now, and I don’t want it to be. You’re Kakashi’s main line of defence: if something gets past you, then it gets him, and he’s the medic.

“ _So_. Going forward. Obito, improving your chakra control is your priority. Rin, we're going to start working on your genjutsu together. I'll speak to Kushina about water-style jutsu to start you off with. And Kakashi, I want you to bring me up to speed on your medical jutsu, first and foremost. We're also going to be focusing solely on team exercises at least twice a week. Any questions?”

Obito raises a hand. “Can I have another ration bar?”

Kakashi fishes one out of his medical kit and thrusts it over. Obito scrunches his face at it but tears open the packet anyway.

“I hate these ones.”

“Tough,” says Kakashi, although he makes a note to resupply with something else. He _is_ the team medic, after all.

“Great!” says Minato. “Rin, Kakashi, let's have a spar while Obito's catching his breath. You kids think you can break out of one of my genjutsus?”

The answer is _no_ , but they give it their best shot anyway.

 

 

 

By the end of the following week, Kakashi is sick of D-ranks. Rin is starting to look pretty glum too, but she's too polite to say anything about it. She masters tree-walking in a long and bruised afternoon, but water-walking remains a struggle. Minato makes them practice their genjutsu while standing on the river because he's a _bastard_ , but Kakashi can't deny that it's an effective method, even though he's sure he's fallen as many times as there are stones along the riverbed. Water-walking isn't an issue for him - he picked it up almost as quickly as walking - but water-walking while conjuring a genjutsu _and_ avoiding the occasional kunai from Minato is tricky. Obito has yet to reach the top of a tree and _stay_ in it, but Rin, at least, is suffering just as much as Kakashi.

“Do you think we could make him hallucinate a _shark_?” she grumbles, heaving herself out of the river with a scowl. She means Minato, of course, who waves cheerily at them from the riverbank. She could mean Obito, too, and Kakashi wouldn’t complain, but he’s almost certain that she doesn’t. They’re close, Rin and Obito; childhood friends. She won’t speak a word against him even though he’s loud, and annoying, and he asks stupid questions. Kakashi earned himself a truly withering glare when he said as much, so he’s been quieter about his complaints since then.

“He just sees things differently, that’s all,” Rin had said. “And I _like_ his earmuffs. We don’t tease you about your mask.”

Obito does, but Kakashi didn’t mention this.

“I think he’d be impressed if you did,” Kakashi says now, steadying himself back onto the river. Wobbling opposite him, Rin sighs and wipes water from her face. She’s already fallen in half a dozen times this morning and their training has barely started. Minato stopped trying to muffle his laughter three days ago. “Do you even know what a shark looks like? The level of detail required to cast a convincing genjutsu -”

“Spiders, then,” Rin amends, proving to be as versatile as Minato predicted. “Obito’s terrified of spiders.”

Kakashi files that piece of information under _things to utilise one day_. “You shouldn’t be so frank about weaknesses.”

“Well, we’re a team, aren’t we? It’ll be good to know these things, don’t you think? I’m scared of dogs.”

Kakashi’s foot slips under the surface. His lurch is the only thing that saves him from the kunai that whizzes past his ear. It disappears into the river just a few inches from Rin, but he’s too busy goggling at her to notice. “You’re scared of _what_?”

Colour rises up onto Rin’s face. “I’m - dogs,” she repeats, laughing nervously. She wrings her hands and ducks her head, just slightly, hiding behind her wet curtain of hair. The river ripples beneath her from Kakashi’s fall, but she stands firm. “I don’t - it’s the big ones. I don’t really like the big ones. They jump up and - w-wait, wait! Where are you going?”

He stalks over to the riverbank, water sloshing around him. With a bite of his thumb and a puff of smoke, Bisuke appears, Kakashi’s smallest and arguably least threatening dog. Bisuke blinks his ever-tired eyes and shakes his head, one long, brown ear flopping into his mouth. It startles him as most things do; he yelps, scrambling back over the grass, but Kakashi crouches down to rescue the wayward ear before Bisuke can do himself any harm.

“Boss!” Bisuke cries, far too surprised for someone who only Kakashi can summon. “Whatcha need?”

Kakashi scoops him up and thrusts him out towards Rin. “Dog,” he says simply, before dropping Bisuke onto the river. Bisuke yelps again as his hind legs sink under the water. He catches himself, though, because he _is_ one of Kakashi’s pack, but Rin leaps backwards and tumbles straight into the river.

“He’s nothing to be afraid of,” Kakashi calls as she picks herself out. “He’s stupid and the rings around his eyes make him look like a panda.”

“Hey!” Bisuke cries. Rin seems to surprise herself by laughing.

“You didn't mention that you can summon, Kakashi,” Minato says from the distance.

Kakashi shrugs. He moves towards the bridge, where Minato is watching with open curiosity. Beyond their first meeting, Kakashi didn't think anything could surprise Minato, but perhaps he was wrong. Kakashi certainly isn't the only young chūnin with a summoning contract - Gai has the tortoise contract - but Kakashi supposes he may be the only nine year old with one. He signed his name on the canine contract before he even knew what words were, and he's been summoning them since he could talk. Sakumo's pack frequented their house as Kakashi grew up, but he tries not to think of his father's wolves as he explains, “It's the family contract.”

(“I'm Bisuke! Who're you?”

There’s a frightened _eep!_ from the river. “N-Nohara Rin. You're very… small.”)

“Have you thought about utilising your summons from a medical point of view?” Minato asks.

Kakashi shrugs again. “They can't perform medical jutsu.”

“True,” Minato says, eyes closing with a smile. “But they could carry specialised equipment for you, no? And there'll be other things they can do. I’m sure you could -”

“They could smell _poisons_ ,” Kakashi realises, scrambling back for his bag. He retrieves a storage scroll and releases it, pulling out a dog-eared notebook and a pen. His dogs might be able to smell infection as well, and they can _certainly_ smell blood much faster than the average human, Kakashi not included. Many shinobi overlook small, seemingly harmless dogs out in the battlefield; his pack could reach injured shinobi quicker than Kakashi, especially in difficult-to-reach places.

Minato makes an inquisitive noise from the bridge, but that hardly interrupts Kakashi's scribbling. “Are your textbooks in there? May I see?”

Barely pausing, Kakashi tosses over the scroll. Minato releases a small pile of textbooks, the first of which he flicks open.

“You’ve checked this out a lot, I see,” he says, flipping a few pages. The book is dated back to the era of the First Hokage, but it covers the fundamentals well enough. Kakashi certainly doesn’t use it for his anatomy notes. “How often are you in the library?”

“Most nights,” Kakashi replies. Sometimes all night, provided the ANBU patrol don’t catch him. It’s a shame the library is so close to the Hokage’s residence, and thus heavily guarded, otherwise Kakashi would sneak in without so much as breaking a sweat. He’s getting better at avoiding the patrol, but they’ve started to _expect_ him. His genjutsu doesn’t fool them. Worse still than the ANBU patrol is the _librarian_. The ANBU, at any least, simply turn Kakashi away, but the librarian on the late-shift despises him. There are many civilians and shinobi alike who blame Sakumo for the start of the war, and his suicide left Kakashi as an easy target for their ire. She’s thrown no small amount of stationery at him, cursing his name and cursing his father. Kakashi’s heard it all before but that doesn’t mean he likes it.

“Are you apprenticing at the hospital?”

Kakashi doesn’t mean to scoff. “Under who? Half of them think I’m a stupid kid.” _And the other half turned my father away_ , he doesn’t say, fighting back a swell of bitterness.

“So you’ve learned all this from textbooks?” Minato presses, flicking through Kakashi’s notes now.

“I’ve been practicing on fish.” Kakashi’s cut open so many fish with chakra scalpels and regular scalpels alike that he could do it in his sleep. Unfortunately, he’s not much good at stitching fish closed again, but it’s been a few years since he overloaded one with with the mystical palm technique. Fish aren’t supposed to contain a vast amount of chakra meaning no small number have - for the lack of a better word - _exploded_ under his hands.

“They’re dead beforehand,” he clarifies. The ones that don’t explode, he feeds to his dogs. He practices on himself as well, healing burns and cuts, and opening and closing chakra points, but Minato’s expression is on the disapproving side of neutral, so Kakashi holds his tongue. Worry gnaws at his chest as Minato inspects his notes. He’d always thought his notes were decent, but now he isn’t sure. Perhaps it was presumptuous to think that Minato - a _genius_ \- would be pleased with Kakashi’s work.

“From what I’ve seen so far, you’re competent at basic medical jutsu; I’ve seen you heal small cuts and scrapes. Your chakra control really _is_ excellent.” Minato pauses just long enough to indicate that he's about to contradict this. Kakashi braces himself. “ _But_ \- and I don’t mean this as a slight against you - but I don’t think that out in the field, on your teammates, is the appropriate place to practice this. You need to be trained by an expert in a professional environment, somewhere controlled.”

Kakashi swallows, hoping he doesn't look utterly mortified.

Minato’s eyes soften. “I’m not saying this to be mean, Kakashi. I promise. It’s just that - well - you need to practice on people, and your patients need to be able to consent _outside_ of a life-or-death situation. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Kakashi nods. “You don’t want me to use medical jutsu on the team until I’m good enough.”

“It’s not - it’s not that I don’t want you to use it, I’d just rather you not try something for the _first_ _time_ in a situation where one of - where your _patient_ can’t really consent to that. I don’t think that’s unreasonable, do you?”

Minato looks so incredibly afraid that he's just caused a great offence that Kakashi doesn't have the heart to argue.

“I understand.”

“Good. Good. Are you free this evening? We’ll go straight over to the hospital after training and talk to someone about an apprenticeship.”

That’s a terrible idea, but there’s nothing that Kakashi can do except agree. If Minato won't let him use - _practice_ \- medical jutsu on his teammates, then the hospital is Kakashi's only choice. But he isn't apprenticing there for a reason, a _good_ reason, and Minato's about to find out exactly what that reason is.

Kakashi and the hospital staff aren't fond of each other, to say the least. No-one wants to teach him and not even Minato’s puppy-dog expression can do anything about that. They spend an hour being passed around the hospital administration team and various department heads, each person inventing a new excuse so not to deal with them. Minato’s confusion mounts with every flustered excuse or flat-out denial. Kakashi says nothing. It's painfully obvious to anyone with even a lick of chakra within three floors of Minato that he's slowly losing his patience. The berth around him widens with every passing minute, with every refusal and unfriendly look sent Kakashi's way. His chakra sharpens from sunlight to fire, simmering into the room like golden magma seeping down a mountainside. Not once does he raise his voice, and not once is he rude, aggressive, or demanding. But he keeps his social pleasantries short and then stops smiling altogether, and even Kakashi wants to back away when Minato interrupts one medic by _laughing_.

“I'm sorry,” Minato says, not sounding apologetic in the slightest. He pushes a hand through his fringe, shoving hair away from his face. The medic looks halfway to tears. “It's just - I think I might be going crazy. Forgive me for interrupting your work, I think it's best if I leave you be.”

He whirls around and body-flickers Kakashi away before the medic can decide if she's going to cry. They land in an entranceway that Kakashi doesn't recognise, but it's a relief to he away from the hospital. The corridor leads back into an apartment, from which a young woman with a shock of red hair appears.

“Uh-oh,” she says, her eyes of brilliant blue following Minato as he breezes past. He doesn't stop to greet her, unless one counts his heavy sigh. The woman doesn't appear to mind, calling after him, “I'll just order some takeout, okay?”

There's no reply. The woman turns to Kakashi now, and her grin can only be described as _dangerous_. She must be Minato's fabled girlfriend, and Kakashi realises with no small amount of dread that she must be privy to all of Minato's gossip about the team.

“You must be _Kakashi_ ,” she says, with the voice of someone who knows _exactly_ who they're talking to. “I'm Uzumaki Kushina.”

Kakashi bows, hoping she can't tell how utterly humiliated he's feeling. If he could turn back time, he would tell Minato that trying to talk sense into the hospital staff is beyond all reason, and that Kakashi's better off learning from books and scrolls and things that didn't refuse to give Sakumo any medical treatment and didn’t treat them both like dirt.

He twiddles with his sleeve, staring at a spot on the floor. He wonders if it's possible to back out of the door.

“I should -”

“You can come in,” Kushina says - _demands_. “Minato throws himself into practicing that Flying Thunder God technique whenever he's feeling angsty; he won't be long. There’s a spare pair of slippers in the cupboard - do you like ramen?”

“I don’t want to -”

“Impose? _Please_ , you’re one of Minato’s students. It’s about time I met you guys, huh? Come sit down and tell me what’s got him all in a tizzy.”

Kakashi resigns himself to switching shoes. He offers a brief explanation about struggling to start an apprenticeship but doesn’t provide any details. It’s bad enough that Minato is now aware of the mutual animosity between Kakashi and the hospital; he doesn’t need a pity-party, especially from a stranger. Kushina stops pressing for details after her third attempt; she’s persistent, and the gleam in her eyes suggests that the conversation is far from finished, even as she backs down. She probably frightens Minato into spilling all the gossip about his team. In fact, there is something about her that sets Kakashi on edge - something in her chakra, a deep, unyielding flame at the heart of a forest-fire, the spark that lights the flame. He cannot put a name to it. But whatever it is, it’s there even as she smiles and laughs, and as she creates a clone to carry out the ramen-run, it flickers like an animal watching from the corner, a hungry wolf twitching in preparation, waiting to strike.

He doesn’t ask her about it.

Kushina’s clone returns just as Minato shuffles into the kitchen. He rubs the back of his neck, smiling in a crooked, embarrassed way. This lasts until he sees the mountain of takeout boxes on the table, and his smile drops into an exasperated sigh.

“This is what happens when you’re not here to stop me,” Kushina says, already digging into one of the larger portions. She snaps up a narutomaki with her chopsticks and jabs it accusingly at Minato. “So. Your fault.”

Minato smiles. It’s such a soft expression that Kakashi feels a surge of discomfort; he’s intruding on his sensei’s private life; his _family-life_. Minato has a girlfriend, he probably has _friends_ ; this is no place for a nine-year-old, wannabe medic with the social skills of a rock. He tried to say as much to Kushina but she ignored him, so now Kakashi turns to Minato in the hope that he’s correctly predicted his sensei to be the saner half of his relationship.

“Hmm?” Minato mumbles, ramen noodles spilling down his chin. There’s a dollop of sauce on his jōnin blues. His chopsticks are half-buried in his mouth. “What was that, Kakashi?” he says - or, at least, Kakashi _thinks_ he says. It’s hard to tell through a mouthful of beef. Minato swallows. “You should eat. I’m going to find you a teacher, I promise. Even if I have to pull in every favour I’m owned, I’ll find you one.”

Kakashi would reply _it’s fine_ , except Minato has made it quite clear that learning solely from textbooks isn’t acceptable. “Yes sensei,” he says instead, accepting the tub of ramen nudged towards him.

“You looking for someone to teach medical ninjutsu?” Kushina guesses, which Minato's sigh confirms. She shakes her head, expression sour. “Those lot at the hospital are _useless_ for field-training. You’re better off finding a kickass jōnin who's trained as a medic. They'll know what it's like out on missions.”

She punches the air at 'kickass’. Minato smiles all sappy and fond again, and Kakashi tries to hide himself behind the takeout mountain.

“I'd help you if I could, kiddo,” Kushina says to Kakashi, still throwing her chopsticks around. “But I'm _shit_ at medical jutsu. Gimme something to punch and I'm all for it.”

“She'll punch anything,” Minato supplies. “Or anyone. Can't stop her, really. She's taken out at least _half_ of ANBU.”

Kushina shrugs. “They should hide better,” is all she has to say about that.

Kakashi nods along, eating in lieu of contributing. Minato and Kushina seem content to carry the conversation themselves.

Kushina sounds terrifying. He understands why Minato is trying to become the faster man alive now.

“I should’ve just found a field medic from the start,” Minato sighs.

Kakashi winces, piling up more ramen cups to hide behind. Soon, every medic-nin in the village will know that he’s seeking a teacher, and then there will be nobody to teach him. He refuses to entertain the notion that there’s someone who will want to be his teacher anyway, but Minato’s determination was infectious, if only slightly; it was a nice thought, albeit a brief one. Now, he doubts there’s a soul in the village who will train him, and if he doesn’t have the field-experience that Minato requires, then what place does Kakashi fill in the team?

“Don’t worry about it, I made you a promise, didn’t I?” Minato reassures, crow’s feet wrinkling around his eyes. It’s sweet and childish, the naivety of his hope, and yet there’s something so compelling about his smile that Kakashi can only nod along.

It takes weeks of river-walking, Obito’s prattling, and late, late nights reading in the medical library but Minato fulfills his promise.

“There you are,” Minato says, squeezing through the bookshelves to Kakashi’s usual spot. It’s a nook high up into the wall, just large enough for Kakashi and his stack of textbooks. The window offers a quick escape and a convenient backlight to hide himself within; Minato has to squint to see him, shielding his eyes from the low, amber sun. “Guess what? I’ve found someone to teach you!”

“Who?” Kakashi asks, doubting the sanity of whoever has fallen for Minato's puppy-dog eyes.

“You'll see! I think you’ll like him. Come on down and we’ll go say ‘hi’.”

“He’s not here?” Kakashi jumps down without a sound. He leaves the textbooks in the alcove, if only to annoy the librarians. The one that hates him is on duty later tonight, and he’ll take any opportunity to make her life more difficult.

Minato frowns at the books but refrains from saying anything. After the fiasco at the hospital, he’s started paying more attention to how Kakashi interacts with the village. He’s also started inviting Kakashi around for dinner, too, which cannot be a coincidence. Of course, Kakashi insists on refusing the offers, but the point of the matter still stands. He has no doubt that Minato will employ Kushina’s more persuasive techniques at some point (her temper, the firecracker shine to her eyes) and then Kakashi will have no choice but to attend. But until then, he’ll continue to hide out at the Maito house or the graveyard, the two places that Minato is unwilling to drag Kakashi from.

(The downside of the Maito house is that Gai won’t leave him alone, and the downside of the graveyard is that Kakashi’s guilt won’t leave him alone).

“Nah, he’s too lazy to come all this way,” Minato says, body-flickering them out of the library. He only takes them as far as the street outside; Kakashi tries not to feel embarrassed but fails, but luckily Minato doesn’t comment on his chronic avoidance of the library staff. “Plus, I think visiting the Nara compound will be a new experience for you, right?”

Kakashi nearly trips on the pavement. “You want a _Nara_ to teach me?”

Minato laughs. “Nope. A Nara _will_ teach you. Shikaku’s a friend and a reliable ally; you’ll be fine with him. He’s recently become the Clan Head, but he can spare some time to teach you. He owes me a massive favour, anyway. We’ll talk about your schedule when we’re there.”

The Nara compound is tucked away at the southern border of the village. Neat, homespun buildings surround the Main House, uniform in size and colour, and entirely unassuming in every way. The front gates are unguarded but for the deer emblem that watches as Minato and Kakashi pass underneath. There are people about despite the lateness of the hour, all dark-haired and dressed in earthy browns and greens. Some smile as they approach but many don’t, but they all watch with dark, intelligent eyes. The Nara mind is one that few can outwit: Minato and Kakashi are both genii in their own rights, but Kakashi, at least, pales in comparison to the scholarly Nara clan. Above them all looms the Nara Forest, stretching from the edge of the compound and far into the Land of Fire. The trees are sentries, silent and timeless. Deers wander the forest, protected and loved by the clan. Entry into the forest is forbidden for all except the Nara. Kakashi trails his eyes across the tree-line, following it around the village border. The Hatake compound lies at the edge of a forest, he remembers; a sunless wood that doesn't fear the Hatake lightning. His father’s wolves used to run wild through the trees, howling like the warning bells in the towers around the village. If it was the Nara Forest, then Kakashi supposes he’ll never know.

The storm shutters of the Main House are closed when they arrive, enclosing the house like the shadows of the Nara Forest leaning over the compound. Minato leads them up some steps and around the house; between the storm shutters and the shoji walls, the corridor is devoid of the evening light. Small lamps hang from the ceiling beams, flickering like Minato’s chakra, anxious and bright. Kakashi isn’t afraid in the narrow corridors; the Hatake compound, too, is an old, traditional building, so unlike Minato’s modern apartment, and the winding wood of the _engawa_ is familiar beneath his feet. After the mission, his father closed the gardens and the wolf-painted _fusuma_ , trapping the house behind its storm shutters; they’re probably still closed to this day, protecting the delicate _shoji_ from the wind, the rain, and the village, and protecting the village from the wolves.

One of the _shoji_ panels slides open, dumping light into the corridor. A man leans in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest. His hair is as dark as the rest of the Nara, and two, claw-like scars bisect his jaw and temple. He’s a young man, perhaps Minato’s age, but his scowl at seeing them standing there seems to age his face by ten years.

“Namikaze,” he greets, gesturing a thumb over his shoulder. “Get in here.”

Minato just smiles, unfazed by the attitude. He toes his shoes off and lays them down respectfully, before fetching two pairs of slippers from the closet. “Thanks for having us so late, Shikaku,” he says, beckoning Kakashi to follow. “I think we’re finally even with this, don’t you agree?”

Shikaku rolls his eyes. “Even and _more_ ,” he sighs, leading them into a smaller, _tatami_ -laid room.

The _tatami_ is familiar and springy under Kakashi’s feet. Wide _fusuma_ depicting a forest scene span the length of the room. The dark colours of the forest have lightened over the years, but the deers still stand bold against the backdrop, their fur almost fire from the thick, red strokes of the paint. The delicate artwork calls forth memories of the Hatake compound, filling Kakashi with grief. He would rather be in Minato’s apartment right now, where the small, modern space doesn’t remind him of home at all.

They settle with tea. Minato and Shikaku bicker over who pours the teapot. They must be friends despite what Shikaku’s aloof greeting suggests. Minato seems far too sunny for someone like Shikaku to tolerate - to which Kakashi can relate. It must be their minds that match them, two men brought together by the intellect that sets them apart.

“This the kid?” Shikaku asks, considering Kakashi with an austere expression. Kakashi returns a flat look of his own and Shikaku’s mouth twitches. “I’m sure I can teach him a few tricks. What’s your schedule with your team?”

“As long as he’s with me on Mondays, then he’s yours,” Minato says.

Kakashi almost drops his teacup all over the fancy _chabudai_. “But you’re my sensei,” he blurts, chest seizing. It’s true that he’s only been Minato’s student for a month or so, but he’s become accustomed to the team. Before them, the only people willing to hold a conversation with him were Dai and Gai. Even with Obito’s stupid comments and Rin’s stupid questions, and especially Minato’s stupid, patient smile, he’s come to like them - begrudgingly. They’ve even caught that damn cat twice more, and if that isn’t an indication that Kakashi is committing himself to this team, then nothing will be. The thought that Minato is happy just to _dump_ him onto somebody else hurts more than he expected. He tries not to let it show, drinking more tea to hold back his tongue. Hopefully the steam will account for the rising blush on his cheeks.

“Man, I forget how young you are,” Minato says, grinning almost cheekily. He brushes his untameable fringe back out of his eyes, deliberating his words. “I’m always going to be your sensei, but this is something I can’t teach you. Learning field medicine needs to be your priority, especially while I’m covering the basics with Obito and Rin. We’ll still be doing team exercises, and there’s still a few things I want to work on with you, but studying with Shikaku will be a better use of your time, don’t you think?”

That’s - reasonable, and enough to quell Kakashi’s frantic heart. “I - yeah. Yes sir.”

“Then you can have him Mondays and Tuesdays,” Shikaku decides, inclining his head at Minato. “I handle Clan business then anyway. I’ll take him off your hands for the rest of the week. Namikaze says you spend most evenings in the library? You’ll stop doing that, then. I’ve got texts here you can read.”

“We have a team meal on Fridays,” Minato remembers. “And Kakashi has dinner with us on Thursdays.”

That’s a lie, but it’s one that Kakashi appreciates. With his time divided between two teachers, he’ll have to make more of an effort in keeping Team Minato in his life. The last person he took for granted for his father, and the possibility that he might drive a similar wedge between himself and Minato doesn’t bear thinking about.

“Hmm. All right then: I’ll take him Tuesday evenings; Wednesday he’s with me; and Thursday and Friday ‘till you come fetch him. Saturday -”

“I train with Dai and Gai in the morning,” Kakashi interrupts, wincing at the thought of telling them that he won’t be able to attend. It’s not his favourite pastime by any means, but Gai and his father aren’t so bad on the grand scheme of things. Their training routine is _nuts_ , but it gives the dogs a good run. “But I can -”

“Hm, Namikaze said you were staying with Maito. Fine, family’s important -”

“They’re not -”

“Saturday afternoon, you come straight to me,” Shikaku amends, continuing over him. He says nothing about Kakashi’s sputtering. “You can do whatever you want on Sunday. Agreed?”

“Sounds fine,” Kakashi croaks, trying to will himself invisible. Minato’s huff of laughter reminds him of his manners; blushing even more now, he sets his hands into his lap, bowing over the _chabudai_. “Thank you for agreeing to teach me, Shikaku-sensei.”

Shikaku nearly swallows his teacup. Minato laughs.

It's worth the embarrassment, Kakashi thinks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Any and all comments are appreciated :)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think my muse has finally stopped dishing out other fic lol so here's chapter two!

“I didn’t know the Naras were field medics,” Gai says, hardly sounding winded as he completes another sit-up. Sweat sticks his ridiculous bowl-cut to his face, but a light green sweatband keeps his fringe out of his eyes. Everything in Gai’s wardrobe is varying shades of green or black, except for those gigantic leg-warmers of his which pool around his ankles like two neon-orange socks.

“I think they keep it under wraps,” Kakashi says, sitting on those leg-warmers and Gai’s feet. His back is pressed against Gai’s shins, keeping him still. Gai could probably perform a hundred sit-ups without moving an inch, but he likes having Kakashi around for some reason. “Most of them are probably too lazy to do anything else.”

“Medical ninjutsu isn’t a lazy endeavour!” Gai argues, jabbing his thumb under Kakashi’s shoulder blade for emphasis. Kakashi curses and tries to elbow him back, but Gai ducks away with a laugh. “I’m sure you’ve read more books than the Academy combined. We hardly ever see you in the evenings. Not that we mind! Dad and I like that you’ve got something to work on.”

If there’s one thing that Kakashi appreciates about living here, it’s that Dai has never forced him to change his habits. Kakashi has certainly had to adapt to the Maito family routine, but he still trains by himself in the evening, and sleeps and showers at odd hours of the night. Dai and Gai are abhorrent _morning-people_ , and no amount of green spandex or inspiration talks could transform Kakashi into one of those. On the plus side, their early mornings leave the house empty enough for eight dogs to be watered and fed without any issues, which is no small task. The Maito apartment isn’t large enough for three people and a pack of dogs, but Dai has never forbad Kakashi from summoning them. Usually, they compromise with Kakashi only summoning a select few, but bath-times are bonding times, and since four dogs are already enough to half-flood the house, Kakashi might as well summon all eight. After bath-time, he typically prepares breakfast for the Maitos (it’s the least he can do) and then rolls back into bed, and then one of the dogs will wake him for team training by slobbering all over his face.

It’s not the Hatake compound by any means, but - it’s okay. They'd be better without him, but it’s nice having people around the house who aren't sad to see him. His father -

Kakashi shakes that thought away.

“Minato-sensei was right though, I need field experience,” he says, trying to find another topic. He turns another page of his book, feeling Gai rise up towards him. It’s the first of many volumes that Shikaku has assigned him to read; the librarians are probably celebrating. “But Shikaku-sensei wants me to shadow him in the Nara clinic first.”

Gai huffs, still counting. “What’s he like as a sensei?”

“Strict. He’s nothing like Minato-sensei.”

“You like Minato-sensei, don’t you?”

Kakashi manages to elbow him this time. “He’s all right, I guess. Weird.”

“Kind,” Gai suggests from the floor, rubbing the sore spot on his jaw. Kakashi twists back to glare at him, glad that his mask hides most of his blush. Still Gai’s eyes twinkle; he’s always been able to see through it. “You should go ‘round for dinner sometime. Think of it as a challenge! I’m sure it’ll be most enjoyable.”

“I guess so,” Kakashi mumbles, remembering Minato’s lie to Shikaku. He can’t avoid Thursday dinners at Minato’s apartment now, but Kakashi finds himself grateful for the excuse. Gai’s right - he _does_ like Minato. He never wanted a sensei, but Minato is everything he _could_ have wanted. “His girlfriend’s pretty terrifying. She’s a Uzumaki. There’s something about her…”

He remembers fire; the feel of her chakra swirling in the room like smoke. She was a whirlpool of flame in the heart of Konoha’s woods. Lightning jumps to Kakashi’s fingers instinctively, crackling over his palm. He snuffs it quickly, hoping he hasn’t burnt the Nara text. Gai resumes his sit-ups, thankfully unaware.

“Like what?”

Kakashi shrugs. He closes the textbook and considers dropping it onto Gai’s stupid face. “Not sure. Your dad’s on a mission tonight, isn’t he?”

“Yeah. There’s leftovers in the fridge for us. My team’s being sent on a mission tomorrow, too. You’ll be all right on your own, won’t you?”

“Obviously,” Kakashi drawls, but sensing Gai’s worry he amends: “But I can always summon the dogs.”

 

 

 

Four days after Dai is supposed to return, and three days after Gai, Kakashi summons his dogs. The canine contract was probably never intended to be used for idle company, but Kakashi has a pack of _eight dogs_. They’re all quirky and brilliant and he wouldn’t change them for the world: they’ve certainly never complained when he summons them simply to chat, and his bed looks strange without them sprawled all over it. Summoning all eight at once is a challenge. Usually, he manages three or four without breaking a sweat, but anything above five is difficult. His father’s eight wolves were a near-constant presence during Kakashi’s childhood; he vaguely remembers Sakumo calling them “the ladies”, but the fact that they were female was the only “lady-like” thing about them. Kakashi’s pack of mutts, on the other hand, are on a whole different level to those iron-hearted wolves, but that’s okay. He wouldn’t change a single thing about them.

Three dogs appear in a puff of smoke. He’s yet to figure out how to summon particular members of the pack; so far, they just seem to pick themselves. This time, Pakkun, Ūhei, and Akino stretch out in the Maito apartment, Pakkun yawning loudly. It is getting late. Kakashi had been hoping to find Dai or Gai back from their mission when he returned from the Nara clinic, but he had no such luck. He can take care of himself, of course, and it isn’t as though he _needs_ them around, but the house is quiet without them. Too quiet. He keeps jumping at shadows, expecting his father to appear.

He’s been having nightmares again. The Maitos don’t need to know that, though.

“Yo boss,” Pakkun greets, looking up at him expectantly. His eyes are so small compared to the wrinkles and folds of his skin. Beside him, Akino gathers his bearings by sniffing the air and twitching his triangular ears. His little, black sunglasses hide his blind eyes. And last but not least, Ūhei sinks down onto his belly with a perpetual nervousness, but his tail wags as Kakashi crouches down and offers his hand for a lick. Kakashi doesn’t usually summon Ūhei (although it’s probably more accurate to say that Ūhei doesn’t usually answer the summoning call). Pakkun’s appearance is common enough and Akino likes to sleep on the end of Kakashi’s bed. Ūhei is a shy and anxious little thing, and he’s quiet where most of the other dogs aren’t. Kakashi wonders what brought him here.

“The Maitos are absent,” Akino notes. His ears are the best of the bunch, but even noisy Urushi would be able to tell that Dai and Gai aren’t home.

“You had dinner yet, kiddo?” Pakkun asks, furrowing his old-man face.

Kakashi scratches under Ūhei’s chin. “No, I was at the clinic. I need to get groceries.”

“Doubt anything’ll be open this late, kid. Get takeout. There’s that dumpling place ‘round the corner.”

Pakkun hasn’t stopped talking about the dumpling place ever since Gai grabbed takeout from there a few months ago. Gai loves it too, so there’s really nothing Kakashi can do when they’re both batting puppy-dog eyes at him. Pakkun’s are, arguably, more realistic, but then again he hasn’t looked like a puppy since the day he was born. It’s the wrinkles. Kakashi pats him on the head and decides not to mention it.

“I’ll buy enough for everyone. What do you want?”

Five minutes and a very long list later, Kakashi is out of the door. Konoha is quiet tonight and the sky is close; thick, grey clouds hide the stars. The Maito apartment is on the third floor of the block, just a few doors down from the stairs. Kakashi doesn’t know the neighbours, but Gai does, occasionally disappearing in the afternoons to mind the newborn next door. The baby’s mother is on her own, her father a casualty of war. Kakashi doesn’t like to think that _his_ father caused the war, but sometimes he can’t help but wonder.

He shoves his hands into his pockets and ducks his head as he walks past. Akino trots along at his side, pressed up against his leg. Kakashi’s capable of ordering dumplings by himself, but Akino insisted. Pakkun and Ūhei will watch the apartment while they’re gone, but it seems unlikely that Dai or Gai will be returning soon.

Kakashi tries not to worry. Missions overrunning isn’t uncommon, especially during wartime. Dai’s been late home before. Gai never has, but three days overdue is hardly a cause for concern. After _the mission_ , Kakashi once went two whole weeks without seeing his father. Sakumo was always in the house, of that he was sure; Kakashi would leave food and water outside his father’s bedroom and sometimes they would be empty when he returned. If they were gone, then he’d tiptoe into the bedroom to find them. The lump on the bed never moved. His father’s chakra would be the dull, after-rain sky grey under the blankets; _alive at least_ , Kakashi thinks in reflection, but at the time he’d never considered.

Akino nudges him into the dumpling shop. Kakashi drones through the order and then perches on the low window-sill to wait. The owner gives Akino a long, hard look, but the forehead-protector hanging from Akino’s neck deters him from saying anything. Kakashi smiles at the thought of his father bringing his wolves into shops like this. Once upon a time, the village would’ve been happy to see the White Fang’s pack prowling the streets. He can’t remember such a time.

Akino whines.

“Sorry, just thinking,” Kakashi says, scratching Akino’s snout. He can’t seem to stop his mind from wandering to his father. Once Dai and Gai return from their missions, everything will go back to normal.

Minato practically falling in through the door dashes that thought.

“ _Kakashi_ ,” he breathes, shaking a leaf from his hair. He’s still wearing his jōnin blues and the jacket, suggesting he was on-duty. The other customers press themselves against the walls, offering him a wide berth. Leaves and petals scatter onto the floor from Minato’s body-flicker, but he doesn’t apologise as he tumbles in. He crosses the shop in three strides.

There’s something familiar in Minato’s expression, something that Kakashi has seen before. He doesn’t want to think of where but his mind immediately takes him to _that night_ ; he’s standing to attention before he realises he’s stood, thoughts spinning from Sakumo, to Dai, to -

“Gai?” Kakashi croaks, mind screaming _no no no no no_.

“He’s at the hospital,” Minato says. “They just got back. He’s - it’s Dai - Kakashi, I’m -”

 _I’m sorry_.

Kakashi’s voice fails him. He nods sharply, refusing to acknowledge the water blurring his eyes. Akino’s fur is soft and short beneath his hand. Minato lays a hand on his shoulder, saying something or maybe not saying anything. Kakashi braces himself for the side-along body-flicker. He nods at the question in Minato’s tone, not really listening. Akino’s fur disappears from his clutch and then Kakashi disappears, blinking from the old white of the dumpling shop to the sterile white of the hospital. Minato presses him into a seat. He says something else and then body-flickers away, leaving Kakashi with his back to a wall and staring at another, the red light of the operating theatre as bright as the moonlight that spilled in over Sakumo’s blood.

“It’s not that bad,” says the boy sitting beside him on the bench. Purple bruises cover one side of his face and his arm is in a sling. A senbon bounces between his teeth.

It’s Shiranui Genma, Kakashi recognises, before throwing up all over his shoes.

“I spoke to Kushina,” Minato says once he returns (once he calls for a nurse; shepherds Kakashi into a bathroom). He looks knackered and there’s more flower petals in his hair. A wad of disposable paper towels droop in his hands. He doesn't say anything about Kakashi’s minor freak out, but something in his chakra is brimming. Kakashi would scoff and call it _parental instinct_ , except that it probably is. “You can stay with us while - things are sorted out.”

Dai is dead.

Kakashi swirls another mouthful of water around in lieu of answering. Shiranui hadn’t seemed too mad about being covered in vomit; he just sighed and shoved Kakashi at Minato as he body-flickered back over. His teammate - Ebisu or something - looked like he wanted to be sick himself, so maybe Shiranui was used to it.

“I’ve got a spare bedroom. Kushina wasn’t using it much anyway...” Minato continues, passing over one of the paper towels. He startles to suggest he hadn’t meant to reveal that, but instead of flustering about it, he just sighs. “Your friend Gai’ll be in surgery for a while longer. Do you want me to fetch anything while you wait?”

“I left some of the dogs at Gai’s house.” Kakashi hasn’t felt the summoning dispel, so they must all still be there. Ūhei must be climbing the _walls_.

“I’ll check on them. Wait here for me, okay?” Minato promises, ushering Kakashi back out into the corridor. Gai’s teammates are still there, but someone has cleaned up the mess. Ebisu seems to have fallen asleep with his head tipped back against the wall. Minato doesn’t quite smile. “Is Chōza around?”

Akimichi Chōza is Gai’s sensei. Kakashi can’t remember ever meeting him, but Gai speaks highly of him. The Akimichi Clan is one of the four noble clans in Konoha: the Uchiha are as well, but Kakashi can’t imagine Obito being noble in _anything_.

“He’s with the Hokage,” Shiranui replies, tilting in his head in the general direction of the Hokage Tower. “Should be back.”

Minato nods his head in thanks and disappears. He returns before Chōza does, but that’s hardly a surprise. His body-flicker technique is one of the best in the village; once he perfects the Second’s Flying Thunder God, nobody will be able to out-pace him. He passes over a bag containing a new shirt, the sealing scroll containing Kakashi’s Nara textbooks, and Pakkun, whose head sticks out indignantly like some sort of child’s toy. Under Minato’s other arm is Ūhei, and from Ūhei’s mouth hangs a plastic bag full of dumplings. Kakashi feels too nauseous to eat, but Shiranui’s stomach growls.

It’s a long wait. Shiranui nods off after demolishing half of the dumplings. Pakkun munches through the rest, squeezed in between Kakashi’s leg and Shiranui’s on the bench. Ūhei lies on Kakashi’s other side, his head in Kakashi’s lap. Every so often, his tongue pokes out in an attempt to reach the dumplings, but it’s a futile effort. Kakashi manages to salvage one from Pakkun’s greedy little paws.

Minato stands vigilant at the end of the bench, saying little until Chōza arrives. The two jōnin instructors step aside to converse quietly, but Kakashi doesn’t bother listening in. He could if he wanted to; his father used to say that the Hatakes came down from the mountains, their hair as white as starlight and their eyes and and ears like wolves. He probably didn’t mean literally; family tales are one thing, but dog-ears are another, but it’s true that Kakashi has a heightened sense of hearing and smell. The tale doesn’t hold water with his average eyesight, but sometimes he runs his tongue across his teeth and wonders.

Finally, the operating light goes out. Kakashi catches a glimpse of the operating theatre as one of the medical shinobi exits, but all he can see is the bed and a flurry of people: surgical techniques and nurses dealing with the equipment and post-op care. It’s hard to tell who’s who when they’re all scrubbed up, but the woman that approaches is a head-medic, judging by the colour of her badge.

“Everything went well. He’ll be moved to recovery while we’re waiting for him to come ‘round,” she says, glancing at her watch. Her look of sheer exhaustion must match the faces of everyone waiting in the corridor. “One of my team will be happy to answer any of your questions once he’s in the ward, but I’d say give him a few days and he’ll be good to go home. We’re not expecting any complications.”

There’s a sigh of relief from Chōza. Gai’s teammates are still asleep.

“When will he be moved to a ward?” Minato asks.

“Depends on when he wakes up. It usually takes about an hour. One of the nurses will show you where to go. If you’d excuse me -”

A nurse appears on cue to lead them through the hospital. Chōza takes one look at Shiranui and Ebisu snoozing on the bench and decides to take his leave, hefting his two teammates up onto his shoulders. (Gai likes to carry Kakashi around like that - like a sack of potatoes). They both continue to sleep aware, Ebisu even beginning to drool onto Chōza’s shoulder. Minato cringes and smiles at the same time, and the hand he places onto Kakashi’s head could be a warning against doing the same. Kakashi would rather die than drool down his sensei’s back, so there’s no need for Minato to worry about that.

“I’ll update you,” Minato promises, and Chōza nods before lugging his two snoozing chūnin away. Gai will be sad to have missed this, but Kakashi commits the sight to memory to tell him later.

“We’ll go and see your friend and then I think you should sleep, hmm?” Minato says once Chōza’s out of earshot, now ruffling Kakashi’s hair. He probably isn’t even aware that he’s doing it; he’s never done it before. He’s a tactile person, of this Kakashi has no doubt, but touch between them has never being so casual. Sure, Minato often has his hand on Kakashi’s shoulder, but that’s usually to hold him back from punching Obito’s _stupid, dorky face_.

This touch reminds Kakashi of his father. Sakumo liked to mess up his hair.

He nods, unsure if he wants to lean away. Luckily, Minato notices, moving his hand away to nudge him instead. It’s only a gentle push but Kakashi teeters from the bench, Ūhei’s head slipping from his lap. Fatigue pulls him down to the floor but Kakashi fights it, dragging himself up through the hunger and the dizziness to stand at Minato’s side. Ūhei’s head _thunks_ against the seat. Kakashi isn’t going to faint - he’s _not_.

“Come on,” Minato says, everything about him soft in this harsh, medical reality. Gai is hurt and Dai is _dead_ , but Minato is still here as incessant as the sun. He smiles full of hope, ever patient and kind. He’s absolutely nothing like Sakumo, and yet.

Kakashi scoops Ūhei up, trusting Pakkun to jump up onto his shoulder. Minato grabs the empty bag of dumplings and smiles at the nurse.

“Thanks. Let’s go.”

  

 

 

The next morning, Kakashi wakes up in Minato’s apartment with no memory of how he got there. The dogs are gone, but someone has stacked his textbooks onto the bedside table; in the wrong order, so it can’t have been him. He ignores the slippers by the bed and instead goes to the window, seeking an easy escape route.

 _KAKASHI_ , someone has scribbled onto the window. There’s no paper or sticky-note, just pen against glass. It can only have been Kushina, and the terrible handwriting confirms it. _COME DOWN FOR BREAKFAST. IF YOU JUMP OUT OF THIS WINDOW, I WILL FIND YOU_. There’s a smiley face at the end (or maybe the Uzumaki spiral, it’s hard to tell) and the ‘will’ is underlined. Kakashi stares at it. Then he closes the curtains and turns back to put on the slippers.

He’s not a complete idiot.

“Kakashi!” Kushina exclaims upon seeing him, as though she had any doubt that her message would frighten him into staying. She ushers him over to the table and puts a cup of tea down in front of him; it sloshes a little in her haste, but Minato is there with a tea-towel to wipe the spillage away. “Oh, sorry, sorry!” she says, and then she kisses Minato’s cheek right then and there, causing both Minato and Kakashi to blush. “Oh come on Min, you _prude_ -”

“How did you sleep, Kakashi?” Minato asks, ducking away from his girlfriend’s wicked smile.

Kakashi shrugs. He doesn’t remember sleeping and he doesn’t feel like he’s slept. That the dogs aren’t laying on his feet indicates that the summoning dispelled sometime in the night. Minato and Kushina probably don’t want a pack of dog charging around their apartment anyway.

“Thank you for the meal,” he says instead of answering, picking at his breakfast. He didn’t eat dinner after shadowing Shikaku at the clinic last night, but he still isn’t hungry.

Minato and Kushina share a glance that he pretends not to see.

“I spoke to Shikaku,” Minato begins. “You’re excused from studying today, if you want. We can head over to the hospital and visit your friend. He’ll have been moved -”

“It’s fine,” Kakashi interrupts. Shikaku assigned him an essay on the respiratory system which he needs to hand in. He has another clinic shift this afternoon, a few hours of observation, blood tests, and simple injury care. Many of the patients are wary about a nine year old giving them shots, but some (mostly shinobi) don’t care. Kakashi prefers dealing with dead fish than live patients; if he makes a mistake with the fish, he can just feed them to his dogs. That’s not really an option at the Nara clinic.

“If you’re sure,” Minato says, sounding unconvinced.

Kakashi shrugs. He’s not but he’s also not sure he wants to see Gai right now. The clinic, at any rate, will distract him from thinking about Dai (and Sakumo) and whether Gai knows that his father is dead.

He ends up at the hospital that night, anyway, long after visiting hours. Gai sleeps oblivious, breathing deeply and unmoved under the bedspread. There are two other shinobi in the ward with him, and two three more empty beds. Despite everyone sleeping around him, Kakashi draws the curtains around Gai’s bed self-consciously before settling at his bedside. Gai doesn’t stir. Kakashi lays a medical textbook open in his lap and flips through to the chapter that Shikaku has assigned him to read. It’s a long one, bogged down with medical jargon. He has half a mind to run a diagnostic jutsu over Gai, but then he remembers Minato’s warning about consent and imagines Shikaku’s disapproving stare, and refrains from trying it.

He doesn’t think Gai will mind. Gai’s the only thing Kakashi can really be sure about, anymore.

It’s a quiet night. Kakashi slips back into Minato’s apartment just before dawn. He only manages to catch a few hours sleep before his training with Shikaku; he forgoes breakfast and Kushina’s hug entirely, and then, at the end of the day, returns to Gai’s bedside in a moment of doubt. Truly, the hospital is the last place Kakashi wants to be: Gai will be fine, he knows, and yet he thought the same thing about his father - about _both_ of their fathers, and look where that got them. Now they’re both orphans. Now all they have left are their teams.

Kakashi bumps into Chōza on the third night. He’s halfway in through the window before he spots Gai’s jōnin-sensei sitting there; it’s not, in fact, after visiting hours this time, but Kakashi isn’t going to use the front door. He freezes in the window frame and then slowly, ever so slowly, pivots around to leave again, but Chōza notices before he can escape.

“I had a feeling someone else was visiting,” Chōza says. He is a short man with thick, red hair and purple marks on his face. Kakashi doesn’t know much about the Akimichi Clan, but as they form one third of the Ino-Shika-Cho teams, Chōza is one of Shikaku’s teammates. This probably means he’s Minato’s friend as well, so Kakashi bobs his head respectfully as he shuffles over.

“You must be Kakashi,” Chōza says with a patient smile. He _has_ to be patient to be Gai’s jōnin-sensei. “Gai speaks of you often. No need to be shy. How are your studies with Shikaku?”

Kakashi draws up a seat on the other side of Gai’s bed. “He’s a demanding teacher,” he says neutrally, now convinced that the Ino-Shika-Cho team gossip about him. He would have thought that gossip was beneath Shikaku - unless it involves complaining, or alcohol, or making everyone feel twenty IQ points dumber every time he opens his mouth.

“He’s difficult to work with, isn’t he?” Chōza prompts, looking fond. “He makes you want to pull your hair out.”

“Or clock him,” Kakashi mutters, the words slipping out, but instead of being angry, Chōza - _laughs_.

“I’m glad Gai has a good friend like you. I would like to offer my condolences. I understand you were staying with the Maito family?”

Kakashi half shrugs. He isn’t a particularly good friend to Gai, and while it’s true he was staying with the Maito family, he wasn’t a particularly good guest, either. He can’t remember if he ever _thanked_ Dai for taking him in. Dai could have easily left him in the shell of the Hatake house just like everyone else - out of sight and out of mind. “I’m with Minato-sensei now. It’s - temporary.”

“I’m sure it doesn’t have to be.”

“I want it to be. I’m not a charity case.”

Chōza’s face is kind. “I know Minato. He doesn’t think of you as temporary.”

“He’s only known me for a few months,” Kakashi argues, turning away from Chōza’s pitying expression. It’s safer to look at Gai; unconscious and bandaged and breathing softly, quieter than he would be even in sleep. It’s disconcerting to see him so still. Kakashi glowers at the rise and fall of the bedsheet, wishing that things were different but knowing they cannot change. “I’m just part of his team.”

Chōza hums, and for a moment, it seems as though he’s admitted defeat. But then he speaks, and Kakashi cannot help but glance over as he explains: “He requested you. He was adamant. You - or no-one. So no, I don’t believe you’re temporary at all.”

Kakashi swallows. Ice-cold dread freezes inside of his chest. He thinks of Minato ruffling his hair and knows it can’t mean what Chōza thinks it means. “But -”

“Why?” Chōza guesses, inclining his head. “I think you’ll have to ask him.”

Kakashi doesn't ask him.

Training continues as normal, even with Kakashi staying at Minato's apartment. Kakashi tries not to feel weird about it, but he can't escape what Chōza said. Living with Minato is like living with a sporadic Labrador; if it's even possible, he's even _more_ hyperactive at home than he is during training, and Kushina's presence only seems to fuel Minato's madness. It's brilliant madness, of course it is, and Kushina's the only person that can seem to keep up. Even Shikaku shakes his head and grumbles when Kakashi mentions it. Minato's brain just never _stops_. And now that Kakashi's staying over for the time being, he's privy to even more of the inner workings of Minato's mind. Learning about the Flying Thunder God technique is fascinating. Kakashi doesn't know if it would be rude to take notes while in the apartment, so he tries to remember what he can. On the flip side, over-hearing Minato and Kushina discussing _him_ as though they're his _parents_ is less fun. Kakashi stamps down his chakra signature and insists to himself that he's temporary, and though Minato and Kushina must be skilled enough to sense him, they don't mention it if they realise he's there.

Rin and Obito have no idea about Kakashi's new lodgings, at any least, although he imagines that Minato filled them in on Gai's hospitalisation. This can be the only reason for Obito's reluctant ambivalence: _reluctant_ , because it looks like it pains him to swallow back the insults, and _ambivalence_ because that's as a close to _friendly_ as Obito will ever be. Kakashi doesn't care either way. He still rolls his eyes whenever Obito gets a shuriken caught in his jacket, and he's still on somewhat-good terms with Rin despite her stupid questions and her doe-like eyes. He summons Bisuke for her whenever they have a spare moment, and Minato always seems to look awfully proud whenever he does, although Kakashi pretends not to see.

Gai wakes up. Kakashi sends a clone to his evening lesson with Shikaku, but the Clan Head catches on and dispels it in two seconds flat. A shadow creeps into the hospital room just ten minutes later, but instead of grabbing Kakashi by his ankles and hauling him back to the Nara compound, it regurgitates a stack of books out from the darkness.

 _Homework_ , Shikaku had said before stabbing Kakashi's clone between the eyes.

Kakashi gathers up the books and balances them on Gai’s bedside table. Gai blinks out of his daze and turns from the window, the bruises on his face now a pale off-yellow. He’s been asleep for days but it looks as though he hasn’t slept at all. No doubt, he’ll be discharged as an outpatient soon and told to go home. The Maito apartment is exactly as Kakashi left it when he left to buy the dumplings, but he isn’t sure when he’ll be going back. Gai will eventually, of this Kakashi is sure, because his sense of duty is an invigorating and self-sacrificing thing. It’s his family home and though his father is dead now, his father didn’t _die_ there - not like Kakashi’s. Kakashi can’t imagine returning to the Hatake compound, not for anything. He’d rather live with Minato or out on the streets than go back there. But Gai isn’t like him; Kakashi doesn’t want Gai to be like him. Only, now they have one more thing in common.

Kakashi isn’t sure what’s worse. Finding your father dead - or watching him die.

“Don’t move, I’ll call a nurse,” he says, feeding a little bit of chakra into the alarm tag hanging over Gai’s head. There’s a partnered tag down at the nurse’s station, and like this one, it will be morphing from green to red. When he sits back down again, he realises that he doesn’t know what to say. He doesn’t speak much during his clinic sessions because Shikaku says his bedside manners are appalling. “Shiranui and Ebisu are fine.”

Gai says, “My dad -” and then nothing more.

Kakashi glances to the window, wondering if he should leave. This sad, unenthusiastic Gai is jarring, and he doesn't know what he expected. Dai is _dead_. If Gai woke up smiling and spouted his usual nonsense about the Springtime of Youth, then that would be… bad. Shikaku would say that's bad. But Kakashi thinks he would prefer it to this emotionless, blank-eyed stare.

“I'm sorry about you father,” Kakashi tries - and it's the truth, it is, but Gai doesn't so much as blink.

The nurse appears and ushers Kakashi out before he can think of anything else to say.

 

 

 

Gai moves into the Akimichi Clan house - temporarily, until his arm heals. Team Minato, volunteered by their jōnin-sensei - collect up some of Gai's things and move them into the old clan house. Gai insists that he'll return to his family home once he's fully recovered (or before, knowing him) but if he's aware that Kakashi is in two minds about moving back himself, then he says nothing.

Kakashi doesn't say anything about it either. But now there are two homes that he doesn't want to enter again - and with his luck, Minato's apartment will one day be three. _Not_ that he thinks of Minato's apartment as home, that is. But with the amount of time he spends there, it's hard not to feel somewhat attached to it. Kushina certainly keeps the place lively, and Minato's collections of old scrolls and texts could entertain Kakashi for _years_. Obito and Rin pop in and out too, and while Kakashi wouldn't say he's particularly _fond_ of his teammates, he's not completely not-fond of them either. Rin, at the very least, is slowly coming around to the idea of dogs, and anyone who treats his ninken nicely despite being afriad can't be all bad.

Obito's a twit but that'll never change.

By the time Team Minato progress to their first C-rank mission (well, Rin and Obito's first C-rank, anyway) Kakashi has been promoted from occasionally helping out at the clinic to manning shifts on his own. He's still not allowed to diagnose anyone without supervision, but he handles cuts and breaks without any trouble, and at the end of the day, he runs through his notes to Shikaku (or the available Nara medic) and tries to argue a case for a treatment plan or referral. Symptoms are complicated and human bodies, he learns, are even more so. Most of the time he's at least _near_ the correct answer, but the Nara clinic staff, unlike the hospital staff, are happy to fill in any gaps in his knowledge.

Kakashi stops blowing up fish, but he does start with other animals. His dogs are pleased with the varying diet, but it doesn't take the woodland animals of the Nara Forest long to begin running at the sight of him. Kushina nearly swallows a spoon when he tells her.

“Think of it this way,” Minato says, thumping Kushina's back as she laughs-coughs up a lung. His eyes are wet as he tries not to laugh. “The Nara Forest is sacred. That you're allowed in at all is an honour.”

Apprenticing under a Clan Head has its perks, it seems. But it has its downsides too - namely that Kakashi's actions reflect Shikaku's, and that means everything is by the book until Kakashi executes it _perfectly_. In theory, this isn't an issue; Kakashi wants to do things _right_ anyway. But in practice -

“What if we run into trouble?” he asks, hiking his backpack further up his shoulder. There’s nothing of value inside of it; his weapons sit in a pouch at his thigh, and his handmade medical pack clips around his waist like a belt, two large pouches falling past either hip. Obito calls it a _skirt_ and Kakashi supposes in some ways it is, but there’s no fabric at the front so it wouldn’t be practical anyway. His ridiculous backpack isn’t practical either, since it keeps slipping down his shoulders to his elbows. “I haven't… practised my medical jutsu much. On people.”

It hurts him to admit, but Minato only smiles. He's always smiling. Kakashi never wants to be in a situation where he _won't_ be. A C-rank mission is unlikely to conjure said situation, but a shinobi's life is unpredictable and it can't be guaranteed.

“It's fine,” Minato says, because _of course_ it is. “We're delivering a message to one of our outposts; we're not even leaving the Land of Fire. If anything goes wrong, we won't be far from help. But if we _do_ , your priority is to work with your team and protect yourself, understand? This isn't where I want to put your medical training to the test.”

Kakashi nods. A weight lifts from his shoulders. One day, he’ll be good enough for Minato and Shikaku to consider him a _proper_ medic, but for now, it’s gratifying to hear that he won’t have to worry about healing his team in a combat scenario. Obito nicking himself with a kunai is one thing, but life-threatening injuries are another. There’s so many things that Kakashi still needs to learn. “I understand.”

Minato is still smiling. “This will be a good opportunity to practice other skills. Don't think I haven't seen you reading my Thunder God notes. I know there's more going on in that mind of yours than medical jutsu.”

Kakashi stares at a spot on the ground. He’s been considering what it might be like to incorporate lightning-affinity chakra into a high-speed technique. He understands that, fundamentally, the Flying Thunder God technique is a space-time jutsu and not an acceleration technique like, say, opening the Gates, but thinking of the Gates leads Kakashi’s thoughts to Dai, and he doesn’t want to dwell on that. Still, it begs the question of whether it’s the speed at which one bends space-time that matters - or the amount.

Minato will be formidable once he's perfected the technique.

Rin soon arrives at the north gate, dragging a sputtering Obito along behind her. Obito appears to be carrying half of the Uchiha compound on his back, which probably explains why they’re late. His hair is also a bed-head monstrosity too, so that’s that too. If he wants to be a chūnin, then he’ll have to cease over-sleeping and actually _try_ and turn up on turn. Minato doesn’t comment on their tardiness though, but Rin’s face is pink with embarrassment.

“All right team,” Minato says, clapping his hands together. From his pack, he pulls out three scrolls and hands them out. “Keep these safe.”

“We’re delivering _all_ of these?” Obito asks, eyes boggling behind the orange glass of his goggles.

Kakashi rolls his eyes and shoves the scroll into his medical pack. “Of course not, there'll be decoys.”

“Oh. I knew that. So which one’s the real one?”

“Well, you’ve got until we arrive at the outpost to figure it out,” Minato says, ushering the team through the gate before Kakashi can respond with something scathing. His face is soft and pleased, but there’s a twinkle of challenge in his eyes. “Do you think you can?”

It takes them the better part of the day, but they identify the real scroll in Rin’s pack. Kakashi is sure they could’ve managed it sooner if their sensei wasn’t a _seals expert_ ; each scroll is sealed with a slight variation of the same seal, and despite Obito’s suggestion to just open them all at the same time, damn the consequences, Rin and Kakashi opt for caution. Examining the scrolls for discrepancies is only the first stage; once they decide on the most likely candidate for the real one, they have to figure out _how_ to unlock it. Minato doesn’t given them any hints, so matter how loud Obito yells about it. Luckily, Kakashi and Rin are smart enough to make up for their third teammate, and by the slow descent of dusk over the forests of Fire, they understand the mechanism for breaking the seal.

“It’s a riddle,” Kakashi explains, pointing at the narrowing rings that circle each end of the scroll. The seal has been placed in two parts, one at either end, and both must be activated simultaneously for it to work. “Look - the characters on each ring are clues. If you read these ones clockwise, then -”

“Wind! The answer’s wind,” Rin realises, nearly spilling her dinner rations in her excitement. Thank _god_ Minato laid down a silencing seal before they set up camp. “And the other one’s - fire?”

Kakashi shakes his head, leaning closer. They’re practically shoulder-to-shoulder, but for once, Rin is too caught up on decoding Minato’s seal to blush about it. “Unless you read it counter-clockwise -”

“Oh, then that’s - that’s, um - earth? But we don’t have those chakra affinities. Well, sensei has _wind_ , but…”

“It needs lightning,” Kakashi decides, placing his hands at either end of the scroll. The timing will have to be perfect, so it’s just as well it’s not _Obito_ who has to open it. “Lightning is clockwise to wind but anti-clockwise to earth. I can -”

Obito snatches his wrist because he can channel any chakra. “Whoa, whoa, wait! What if it’s trapped still?”

Kakashi tries to shrug out of the hold but Obito just tightens his grasp. The foolhardy humour that usually makes him look so ridiculous is gone, replaced by a seriousness that doesn’t suit him at all. Kakashi glowers, abandoning one end of the scroll to pry Obito’s fingers away.

“Neither of you can -”

“You’re the _medic_ ,” Obito stresses. “You can’t open it.”

“What other option do we have? I’m hardly the medic right now -”

“Doesn’t matter. We don’t put the medic at risk.”

Kakashi breathes in sharp through his nose but - relents. He doesn’t have to like it, but his eagerness to solve Minato’s task has gotten the better of him. Obito is right. The medic isn’t supposed to fall into the line of fire, and if this scroll belonged to an enemy, then it _would_ most likely trapped. “Fine. Then what do _you_ suggest.”

“Minato-sensei could open it,” Rin says gently.

“No,” Obito says, tension seeping out of his shoulders. He releases Kakashi’s arm, apparently trusting him not to go ahead and open the scroll anyway. Kakashi isn’t going to, but that’s beside the point. He still _could_. “No, we… We don’t open it. It’s not our place to know what’s in it anyway.”

“Giving up?” comes a chime from across the campsite. Minato is watching them with a neutral expression, revealing nothing. It’s jarring not to see him smile. There’s a book laid open in his lap, but Kakashi doubts he’s been reading it.

Kakashi, Rin, and Obito look at each other, resigning themselves to the failure. Kakashi throws the scroll back to Rin and she tucks it into her pack, almost tipping over her dinner again. Obito’s sigh would scare the nearby flock of birds into flight if they could hear him.

Minato _beams_. “That was a good call there, Obito. You’re right, it’s _not_ a shinobi’s business to know what reports they carry, but more importantly, we don’t endanger the medic. Kakashi, Rin, what can I say? Well done on identifying the seal _and_ how to open it. I’m impressed. You kids are really starting to work together.”

“So we were _right_?” Obito cries.

“Well…” Minato says, and he leaves them hanging until they arrive at the outpost the next day, where he gestures for the scroll in Rin’s pack and hands it over.

Obito _cheers_.

 

 

 

Once his arm heals, Gai moves back into the apartment. Kakashi… doesn't. He can’t. He also doesn't _ask_ to stay with Minato, but he assumes the invitation is there. Confronting Minato about it would be embarrassing, and really, Kakashi doesn't have anywhere to _go_. Kushina, at any least, merely raises an eyebrow at the extra boxes that appear in Kakashi's room, and then she proceeds to grin like a loon for the rest of dinner. Minato's a genius and he has to know his girlfriend well, so he'll figure it out.

That isn't to say that Gai stops hounding him for challenges. They resume their Saturday morning training, but if anything, with his father's absence, Gai is even _more_ persistent. Kakashi doesn't really mind, not that he’ll admit it to anyone, least of all Gai. Putting with him is the least Kakashi can do in the months following Dai's death, and sparring with Gai is much more interesting than sparring with Obito and Rin anyway. Gai is - to borrow his favourite word - a _challenge_ : Kakashi always wins, of course, so it’s not _that_ challenging, but Gai has more chance of breaking that streak than anyone else.

“Just admit it,” Pakkun grumbles: he's about the size of a football but has a superiority complex the size of the Hokage Mountain. “He’s a strange one, but he’s your best friend.”

“Can you _have_ a best friend if you’ve only got one?” Urushi asks from the other side of Kakashi’s legs. The three of them are lined up outside the Inuzuka veterinary clinic, Kakashi perched on the fence and his ninken sitting either side. The vet is a squat, somewhat modern building similar to the rest of the Inuzuka clan abodes, and Kakashi can see fang-marked shinobi bustling about inside, each more ladened with dogs than the last.

“Yes, thank you for your input, Urushi,” Pakkun drawls, peeping his head around Kakashi’s shin to glower at the other dog. “Ignore him, kid. Don’t know why you summoned him if you’re after _brains_.”

“Don’t know why I summoned you,” Kakashi mumbles, ignoring the swat of a paw against his leg. “Let’s just get this over with.”

He hops down and heads inside, the two dogs muttering to each other as they follow. He stops the nearest Inuzuka and asks for the woman that Kushina suggested - “Harin?” the nurse repeats, jagged hair intensifying her sharp eyes, teeth, and cheek-marks. The tiny dog in her arms stares at Kakashi with erratic, beady eyes, and Urushi growls back. “Yeah, I’ll check if she’s free. HEY TAIGO,” she yells at the man on reception. “YOU SEEN HARIN RECENTLY?”

The young man jabs his thumb behind him, barely raising his voice. “She’s having a cig break out back.”

The nurse hefts the little dog higher up in her arms. It takes a snap at her ear, but she doesn’t seem to notice. “Back exit’s down the corridor and right,” she directs, shrugging at Kakashi. “Your funeral.”

Kakashi thanks her and turns down the corridor.

“Thank Hatsuhime we’re not contracted with this lot,” Pakkun mumbles.

Kakashi has never met Hatsuhime, the chakra-mother of all canines contracted with the Hatake family, but his dogs speak of her with awe. Shiko, the leader of his father's pack, was one of Hatsuhime's first daughters and she was ruthless and wise. Hatsuhime must be something else entirely for Sakumo and Asuka to name their child after her.

Kakashi doesn't miss that name, but.

They pass two examination rooms and an office before finding the door out the back. Kakashi has to fight the urge to peek into one of the rooms when a scraggly spaniel catches sight of him marching past. Its tail wags so fiercely that even its butt starts to wiggle, and the vet trying to calm it glances over just as Kakashi ducks away. The door he's after is almost entirely made of glass, and it looks out towards a small, concrete courtyard with a couple of benches. Beyond that is the beginnings of an open, grassy area - not large enough to be a field, but enough to exercise even the largest of dogs. Near-constant barking echoes from another building just off to the right. But just a ways to the left is another Inuzuka, a tall, somewhat disproportionately built woman, with clan markings that have begun to fade with age. She must be older than Minato-sensei. She's smoking a cigarette with a bored expression, and her eyes seem reluctant in their drag towards Kakashi.

Kakashi can't help but wrinkle his nose at the smell. It's pungent even through his mask, so it must be worse for Harin, whose nose is far superior to his. He doesn't cover his nose and mouth though; he is a shinobi and he will exhibit self-restraint.

Harin laughs. Smoke puffs out of her mouth. “Just like your damn father,” she says, taking another drag of the cigarette. “What do you want, Hatake?”

Urushi's ears flick back at the mention of Sakumo, but Kakashi stands firm.

“Kushina sent me to you. I'm a medic. I want to train my pack to smell poisons and I need advice.”

“Kushina?”

“Uzu -”

“Yes, I know who Kushina is. Nosy girl. Your pack are your family summons, yes? It’s these two you want to teach?” She gestures at Pakkun and Urushi sitting by Kakashi’s feet.

Kakashi glances down them, at Pakkun’s little, wrinkly body and Urushi’s permanent angry expression. Neither of them are his best trackers and his expression pinches. “Maybe not these two. Shiba’s the one with the best nose, but -”

“Summon him.”

Kakashi doesn’t dig his toes into the ground, he _doesn’t_. “I… don't know how to specify -”

“Ah,” says Harin, a short breath of smoke. “Can't help you with that.”

That’s to be expected; he hadn’t come here to talk about summons anyway. “But is there anything -”

Harin sighs, snubbing out her cigarette. If she’s trying to get rid of him, then she’s going to have to try harder. Kakashi’s certainly not as stubborn as Gai, but he makes a point to be as infuriating for as many people in the village as possible. “I can show you some tricks to start teaching your ninken, but _you’ll_ be responsible for their training. But I ain’t doing nothing like that till you’ve gotten to grips with your summoning. Show me the dogs you wanna teach and then maybe we'll talk. I _suppose_ if Kushina sent you, I can draw up a list of texts for you to check out from the library. You're going to have to brush up on your poison knowledge if you want to pass it onto your ninken.”

Kakashi's stomach twists at the mention of the library. He doesn’t want to see that librarian again just as much as she won’t want to see him. He bows slightly, anyway, knowing when to pick a fight. “I understand. I’m -”

Harin waves him off. “Your thanks mean nothing, Hatake. Now, scram. I’ll send someone to find you when I’m done.”

Recognising when he’s beat, Kakashi slips back into the veterinary clinic. With the dogs at his heels, no one so much as spares him a glance. Once he’s back out on the street, he shoves his hands into his pockets and sets off in the direction of the village centre, figuring there’s nothing else to do now but wait. in the meantime, he should find someone to talk to about summoning, but other than Gai, he can’t think of anyone else who can summon. Perhaps Shikaku or Minato will know who to ask.

“Hey, you need us anymore?” Pakkun asks.

Kakashi stops in the middle of the street, realising that his ninken have been quiet all this time. This is particularly remarkable for Urushi, considering he tends to snap at everything. They’re a strange lot, Kakashi’s pack. “Ah. No. Guess that was a waste of time.”

“It’s fine, kid,” Pakkun says, saluting before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Urushi headbuts Kakashi’s leg and says, “Love ya boss,” before following suit.

Kakashi rolls his eyes. A strange lot for sure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading :) Any and all comments are appreciated! One more chapter to go :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for your patience with this! We're wrapping a few things up with this chapter, but since this fic is basically a prologue, we're also still setting other things up. It's such a weird fic :P
> 
>  **Warnings:** This chapter contains an instance of misgendering/transphobia. If you wish to skip it, it occurs when Minato summons a toad.

Kakashi flexes his fingers, his hands rubbing the rope binding his wrists. It's a simple knot; loose. He could wiggle free in about two seconds flat - and he would like to, very much so - but that would defeat the purpose of the exercise. There's only a few minutes left on the clock anyway, although at this rate, Obito will claim a victory before their time is up.

“We were so _close_ ,” Rin hisses, straining to maintain her water style jutsu. It's a bubble around them - her and Kakashi - and it's an impressive feat even if it's a little small, a bit too thin, and wobbling on the verge of collapse. The great fireball jutsu slamming into it certainly doesn't help: Obito's fire surges over the bubble barrier like a wave, and the edges of the barrier hiss and sizzle into steam. Rin glances back over her shoulder to where the goal is, less than thirty feet away. It’s marked by the kunai buried in the ground at Minato’s feet. “Do you think - if you ran -”

Kakashi would _love_ to risk third-degree burns but. “That's against the rules,” he reminds her, twiddling with the rope. He's not allowed to move under his own speed which is why he's sat in the middle of the training field. Rin dropped him to pull up the bubble barrier, and Kakashi's sure he'll have bruises on the back of his legs as well as mud. He can shrug, though, and he utilises this to great effect. “I'm unconscious.”

Boiling water sloshes down from the barrier in fat, steaming drips.

“Well can you _not_ be?” Rin cries.

Kakashi’s eyebrows raise up into his hairline. He pretends to consider it and then says, “No.”

It's simply a matter of who will hold out now. Obito's fire sputters for a moment, dying out as he takes another chakra-filled breath. Rin gasps and renews her efforts, but just a few seconds pass before the bubble begins to collapse again, spilling hot water down at their feet. It's probably seeping out to where Obito is standing, too, and Kakashi strains his ears for Obito's water-logged steps. If he was allowed to help, he would feed a lightning style jutsu into the water to electrify it all, but as it is, he's the hostage in this exercise today.

“Should I cry for help,” Kakashi drawls.

“No!” Rin snaps, furious with herself. Her hands are red-hot from the heat and her knees are shaking, but she's stubborn, Kakashi will give her that. But she's also not one to let her anger get the best of her, and almost immediately she softens her voice. “I mean - maybe? If I drop this, we might _actually_ be fried.”

Kakashi rolls his eyes. Obito will have to do better than a basic fire jutsu to kill _him_. “All right, fine.” And then he shouts _yield!_ loud enough for Minato to hear.

The fire ebbs away and Rin heaves a sigh of relief, sinking down to her knees. The bubble barrier bursts in the next second, dumping scalding hot water down on top of them. Kakashi wrenches himself free and yanks Rin's dress just as somebody grabs _him_ ; Rin yelps as the water splatters across the training field, but by then they're safely thirty feet away.

“Good effort, Rin,” Minato says, releasing them both. “That bubble barrier jutsu is coming along nicely.”

Kakashi fishes a nutrient bar out of his med-pack before snapping it back around his waist. “Here,” he says, throwing it into Rin’s lap. Ration and nutrient bars aren’t as effective as soldier pills at restoring chakra, but their side effects are fewer. Shikaku’s taste _nasty_ , but Kakashi won’t inflict Rin with that. “If that’d been real, we’d be dead.”

Rin huffs hair out of her face. “I should’ve been able to hold out longer.”

“Nonsense -” Minato begins, only to plug his ears as Obito bounds over: “Rin, that was AWESOME.”

Rin blushes as Obito half-skids down into the grass beside her, orange goggles still covering his eyes. His face is pink from the heat of his jutsu, but as a Uchiha, his body temperature is naturally higher anyway. He can wield fire jutsus without breaking a sweat: unlike Rin, who’s looking a little dizzy from the flame. Kakashi shuffles over to her other side and reaches for her wrist, remembering himself at the last second.

“Ah, Rin -”

“That water jutsu was so _cool_ ,” Obito continues, his grin wide. “You’re gonna be such a badass, you know. I can’t wait to show those Earth shinobi who’s boss!”

Minato’s sharp, disapproving breath is probably supposed to go unnoticed, but Kakashi hears it loud and clear. Jaw twitching, he raises his voice to gain Rin’s attention and encourage the conversation to other topics: “ _Rin._ Can I check your pulse?”

His teammates blink towards him. Even Minato seems surprised. “Oh, sure,” Rin says, offering her arm. “Is everything okay?”

Her skin is red and dry, but nothing alarming. “Your pulse is a little fast. Lie down if you're feeling light-headed.”

“Oh, no I'm -”

“Wait, did I _hurt_ you?” Obito interrupts, crowding right up into her space. Personal boundaries are another issue he has from time to time. Rin never minds but Kakashi has yet to instinctively lean away.

“No, no,” she assures, purple cheek marks pinching as she smiles. “It was just a little hot, that's all. I'm all right. Thanks Kakashi.”

“Uh. You're welcome?”

Minato doesn't quite manage to muffle a laugh.

After a short rest, they return to training. Since Rin is low on chakra, they stick to taijutsu: Kakashi and Obito pair off first, and the victor (which is of course Kakashi) spars Rin. As always, Obito sulks about it for the rest of the day and only the promise of new fire jutsu to learn abates him. Minato's going to run out of jutsu to teach before Obito stops being a sore loser, but maybe by then Obito will have awoken his sharingan and he'll _finally_ have an advantage that his teammates can't match. The thought of someone like Obito owning a sharingan is ridiculous, but Kakashi doesn't say anything in case Rin glares at him again.

“Okay, I think that's a day,” Minato finally says, closing the match to a close. “Come sit for a minute. What have we learnt today?”

“That Kakashi can kick anyone's butts?” Obito sighs - and under the drawl, it sounds like a _compliment_. Kakashi snaps back before he realises there's no need to be defensive (“ _You_ try getting hounded by Gai”) and Obito barks a laugh.

“Are you kidding?” Obito says. “He's crazier than _you_.”

“Do you think he _would_ train with us?” Rin asks, and they both whirl towards her. “I mean - his taijutsu _is_ very good and mine’s… not?”

“Your taijutsu is fine!” Obito cries.

“Well - thank you - but it's not _great_. He's your friend, isn't he Kakashi? Do you think he would maybe…” She trails off, batting hopeful eyes.

Kakashi shrugs. “Could ask. Can't promise you'll even _want_ to train with him.”

“Rin can do whatever she wants!”

Kakashi never said she couldn't, but _sure_. “Your funeral.”

Minato dismisses them for the evening before they can descend into bickering. Obito cements himself onto the ‘most immature’ pedestal by sticking out his tongue as he departs, dragging Rin along by her hand. She just smiles and waves in farewell: Minato waves back, but Kakashi just huffs and crosses his arms.

“You all right?” Minato asks. He places his hand atop Kakashi's head and it's still weird, but Kakashi allows it. “You took a bit of a fall, earlier.”

“It's nothing. Rin was overconfident.”

“Perhaps. But that's what training's for. How's your medical training coming along?”

Kakashi kicks a stray clump of dirt. “I spoke to the Inuzuka about my ninken, but there's nothing they can do until I know how to selectively summon them. Do you know any summoners?”

Minato looks bemused. “Uh - me?” It sounds like he isn't sure. “I have a contract. Didn't I say?”

This is news to Kakashi and he's eager to learn more. “Which one?” he blurts, and then in quick succession, “Is it a family contract? Can I see? How do you choose who to summon? Are there -?”

Minato laughs. “Slow down, slow down. No, don't be embarrassed. Questions are good. Here, let me show you.”

He flashes through a series of hand seals and then _POOF!_ The toad that the smoke reveals is larger than Kakashi expected, taller than him in its natural hunch. Its body is a leathery, muted yellow, and two black streaks seem to bisect its eyes and cheeks. Its eyes blink slowly, golden and bulbous as they slide down towards Kakashi.

“Hmm,” says the toad in a deep, possibly feminine voice. It leans closer to inspect him, its great mouth pressed closed into the biggest frown of scrutiny that Kakashi’s ever seen. He resists the urge to back away, wary of disrespecting one of Minato’s summons. The toad takes its time with inspecting him. “Yes, I know you. The canine girl.”

Kakashi bristles and bites down hard on his tongue.

Minato makes a strangled sound. “Shigeko, this is Hatake Kakashi. He’s one of my students.”

“Is that so?” says Shigeko, returning to her full height. Kakashi tips up his chin to watch her, refusing to cower. “That’s not the name on your contract. But I suppose those dogs will follow anyone.”

“You - !”

“That’s enough,” Minato says, holding a hand out to stop Kakashi from lunging at the toad. “Shigeko, I have only the highest respect for the toads and I don’t wish to quarrel with you, but please don’t insult me. Kakashi is my student. I appreciate you coming all this way, but please return to Mount Myōboku now.”

Shigeko says nothing, but she does shift uncomfortably. Kakashi doesn't say anything either, although he wants to. Minato's voice is a scary sort of calm that he never uses with the team: it must be his _mission voice_ , as Kakashi's father used to put it. Sakumo could switch between happy and serious as swiftly as swapping a mask - or, at least, he could before _the mission_ , and then he mask he wore was one he wore to his death.

Minato just shakes his head and dispels the jutsu. Shigeko disappears in another puff of smoke and now it's Kakashi who shifts uncomfortably as Minato's attention returns to him. Only, Minato is _blushing_ , and he rubs the back of his neck sheepishly.

“I - I’m really sorry. Shigeko’s very wise and I thought she would be able to answer your questions, but - I wasn’t expecting -” He colours further, mortified. He swallows hard. “I’ll have a word with them. Some of the older toads can be a bit - ah, well. Why don't you talk to your summons? If there's nothing wrong with your technique, then maybe it's your contract?”

“You mean my name,” Kakashi drawls.

“What - no! No, that's not - I just meant, the older contracts tend to be more selective with their terms. Stricter.” Minato's expression looks like how he sounds when he's discussing Kakashi's life with Kushina and that's - not good. “Unless your pack _have_ said something about your - ah - your deadname? Is that the word you prefer? In which case, I'll be having a word with them, too.”

“They haven't,” Kakashi assures, feeling… _weird_. Minato lecturing his dogs would be all kinds of bizarre. “But it wouldn't be necessary -”

“Think I'll be the judge of that,” Minato chimes, shifting back into the happy, scatterbrained _sensei_ that Kakashi is familiar with. “Come on, let's get home before Kushina's impulse control runs out and she over-orders ramen again.”

It's impossible to over-order ramen in Kushina's eyes, but that's probably what Minato's afraid of.

After dinner (not ramen, thankfully), Kakashi excuses himself to the spare room and summons Pakkun. In fact, he _tries_ to summon Pakkun and it works, much to his surprise: his intention and the summoning jutsu only seem to agree about forty percent of the time. He explains this as Pakkun makes himself comfortable on the end of Kakashi's bed, circling the same spot half a dozen times before settling down.

“Look, think of summoning like a net, kid,” Pakkun says, as Kakashi scratches his ears. “Whenever you call upon the contract, you’re casting a net into the summoning plane. Sometimes your net is large enough for four of us - or three of us. Depending on how hard you tug, we can tell who you're trying to summon.”

Kakashi tries to picture it, but he's never been to the summoning world of the canines so all he can visualise is a leash roping his dogs from a wide, blank plane. From the ether, he pulls in his dogs like a tug of war. His more elusive dogs (Bull, Guruko) sit by and watch with idle disinterest. But Pakkun is here now and that's who Kakashi _intended_ to summon, so maybe the analogy has merit.

“So, when I summoned you today -”

Pakkun dashes the thought. “No, that was me. Right now, it feels like you’re casting your net out onto the pack - all of the pack - but it’s letting some of us slip through. We choose who answers the call. Today it was me.”

“So how do I -?” Kakashi shakes his head, reluctant to ask. He's had the summoning contract for years, he should know all of this already. That he doesn't reflects poorly on his part.

“Come on, kid, don't stop scratching,” Pakkun says, tapping Kakashi's leg. He rolls onto his side for easier access, encouraging Kakashi to run his belly too. “You were gonna ask how to make the jutsu specific enough, weren't you? You do it the same way you do with anyone with chakra. Seriously pup, has living with Namikaze fried your brain? We've all got our own chakra signatures. It's kind of embarrassing you can't tell us apart yet.”

A cold shame rushes through Kakashi's chest. He opens his mouth to apologise but Pakkun cuts him off.

“No, no, don't say anything. Forget it, kid, it's partly our fault too. Guess there's no one around to teach you these things.” He sniffs, more quickly over the topic of Kakashi's family. “The more you summon us, the easier it'll be to identify us. Plus, the boys like running around here from time to time. Lunatics.”

He says this as though he, himself, isn't one of Kakashi's crazy pack.

“So,” Kakashi begins after taking a moment to ponder this new information. Once he gets to grips with his pack's chakra signatures, he should, theoretically, be able to summon any of them without a problem. Unless what Shigeko implied has _merit_ , in which case… “There isn't a problem with the contract or anything?”

It's a deliberately vague question. Perhaps a little too vague, given that Pakkun just blinks his teeny eyes, but Kakashi doesn't want to voice 'do I need to re-sign the contract’ aloud.

“Like what? Contract's fine as far as we're concerned. Why - you wanna change something about it?” Pakkun itches his ear. “We might have to go to Hatsuhime for that.”

Facing Hatsuhime is the _last_ thing Kakashi wants. He's not sure 'I’m honoured to be named after you but I hated that name so sorry?’ would go down well with the chakra-mother of his family's summons.

“I - no. No, if it's fine -”

“Let me see it.”

“It's fine.”

Kakashi tries not maintain a disinterested expression, but his face might be a little too red and his eyes a little too wide to pull it off.

Pakkun scrunches his face dubiously. “All right, whatever you say, pup -”

“Why don't you call me by my name?” Kakashi blurts, unable not to ask, not to _know_. He never explained his new name to his pack; he just summoned as many of them as he could one day and re-introduced himself with the correct pronouns. It was years ago now, sometime in the fallout of his father's death. Kakashi can't remember much of that time anyway, let alone how his pack reacted.

“Ah. Is that what this is about?”

“No,” Kakashi lies, far too quickly to convince anyone. He kicks himself for being such an idiot.

Pakkun rolls his beady eyes. “You're _pup_ 'cause you're the pup. And you're _boss_ 'cause you're the boss. Kinda counterintuitive, now that I think about it, but it is what it is. That's what we like calling you. But we can call you _Kakashi_ if you want, since it's your name an’ all. You want that?”

Kakashi hopes his relief isn't too obvious, but with Pakkun, it probably is. “No. The others - the nicknames are fine. I was just thinking - the contract's fine?”

“The contract's fine, kid. You're not usually this scatterbrained, you know. Namikaze's been rubbing off on you.”

“He's a genius,” Kakashi feels the need to defend.

Pakkun laughs. “I know. So are you. Stop thinking so hard. We don't want you getting lost in that brain of yours.”

“I won't.”

The look Kakashi receives is one he doesn't dare to understand.

“Aye, you might kid, you might.”

 

 

 

Rin tags along to morning training on Saturday because she has no sense of self-preservation. Obito, although offered to join, refuses on the basis of _having_ self-preservation - and he says something about _clan duties_ too, but by that point, Kakashi's hardly listening. So, a sleepy but excited Rin turns up at Minato's apartment come Saturday morning, is subjected to a round of hugging and idle gossip from Kushina, and then follows Kakashi into the village.

There's a small park just a few blocks from the Maito apartment and Gai is there waiting for them, clad in his usual eye-sore green. There are mostly civilians around walking their dogs and children, and sharing lunch with coworkers, friends, and the park wildlife. Gai is stretching near the fountain in the centre of the park, and behind him, a toddler is trying to imitate his poses. He probably hasn't noticed. If he had, the poor kid would be wearing a green jumpsuit by now.

“Rival! Right on time, as usual. And I see you have brought one of your teammates today!”

“We discussed this,” Kakashi says, rolling his eyes. He's already regretting everything about this, but there's nothing to be done. Once Gai gets an idea in his head, it doesn't let go. “Gai, Rin. Rin - well, you know. She wants taijutsu training, remember?”

“Of course I remember!” Gai announces. He fist-bumps the air and then drops into a bow, and the end result is a gangly manoeuvre that almost punches Rin's nose. “It's good to see you, Rin. I hope Kakashi has been treating you well! He often complains about team exercises so -”

“ _Gai_.”

Rin laughs. “It’s all right, Kakashi's a wonderful teammate.”

“Oh,” says Gai, and _surely_ he doesn't have to sound so surprised. Kakashi drags a hand down his face which Gai watches with an owlish expression. “Are you certain -?”

“Training!” Kakashi interrupts, his jaw sore from gritting his teeth. He's not blushing, he's _not_. “Let's train.”

“Yes, let's!” Gai shouts, scaring off that poor, captivated toddler. “We warm up by running laps around the village. Rin, do you know the street through the old market? We begin that way and then…”

As morning rolls into afternoon, Rin all but rolls to a stop at the end of her laps. She completes them all, which surprises Kakashi and invigorates Gai, but she's boneless by the time she reaches the park. Kakashi and Gai are in the middle of a spar when Rin flops into the training ground, her knees jelly and collapsing beneath her. For a terrible moment, Kakashi fears she's fallen unconscious and his distraction costs him; Gai's kick smashes like a tonne of iron into his forearm and the world overturns. There's a cry of _FUCK!_ and then bludgeoning pain as Kakashi hits the dirt; the sky blinks blue, white, and then bright, neon green as Gai scrambles down onto his knees.

“Rival, are you okay? Why didn't you - Rin! You've finished your laps already? That's amazing! Oh, are you all right? Kakashi, does she need a - do _you_ need a medic? I think I heard -”

Kakashi waves him away. “Let me up. I'm fine.” His arm is going to be mottled with bruises tomorrow but, as he prods it, it doesn't feel broken. Maybe fractured. He can run a jutsu over it to preempt the swelling once he's checked Rin.

“I can't feel my legs,” she bemoans, as Kakashi's hands flash with a diagnostic jutsu. He's only looking for bone or muscular injuries, nothing more complicated. Emergency first aid is about all he can do with cardiovascular and respiratory systems right now, and chakra pathways are more finicky still.

“You're fine,” Kakashi reports, in the ‘you’re-not-going-to-die’ meaning of the word. “Did you bring water?”

Rin shakes an empty bottle at him. There’s a quiet slosh of water from inside, and it sounds just about as pathetic as she looks. “You train like this _every_ weekend?”

“Gai runs laps every morning,” Kakashi adds, meaning _yeah_ as takes the bottle. “Hang on, I'll fill this up.”

There's a drinking fountain just a block away from this training ground - it's why they choose to spar here. Kakashi body-flickers there and back in seconds, shoving the bottle into Rin's shaking hands. She gulps down four, huge mouthfuls and almost empties it again; Kakashi doesn’t mind running back to the fountain, but he doesn’t want to deal with her being sick. He hovers for a moment, waiting to see if she needs anything else, but it soon becomes apparent that dehydration and exhaustion are all they have to worry about. Instead, he rolls down one of his long gloves to inspect his arm. It’s starting to swell. Rin almost chokes on the bottle-cap when she sees it.

“Kakashi! You’re hurt!”

Kakashi winces and hastens to roll his glove back up. “It’s fine,” he says, trying to shush her before -

“I _knew_ you were hurt, Rival!” Gai booms, appearing like a fluorescent green fog-horn at his side. He snaps Kakashi’s arm up to inspect it for himself; he is gentle despite the enthusiasm, handling Kakashi like a mouse rather than a rag-doll. “You should’ve said something if you were in pain!”

“It’s fine,” Kakashi repeats, this time through gritted teeth. He tries to pull away but Gai’s fingers are the steel teeth of an animal-trap. “It’s probably just fractured -”

“ _Fractured_?” Rin and Gai cry, and as they descend upon him in worry, Kakashi realises that introducing them to one another was a terrible, _terrible_ idea.

 

 

 

The weeks pass. Kakashi checks Harin’s list of books out from the library (the staff are _not_ pleased to see him, as always, but he doesn’t dawdle) and carries at least one around with him wherever he goes. He likes to flick through a few pages between patients at the clinic, or tuck himself up into a tree during training breaks and skim-read a chapter. Shikaku doesn’t comment on the extra reading but he does start quizzing Kakashi throughout the day, his expression as bored and put-out as usual, but with that familiar, Nara gleam in his eyes. He’s so unlike Minato, who’s bright with affection and wears his heart on his sleeves. Earning a look of pride from Shikaku is practically impossible, but Kakashi works hard to see even the tiniest spark in his eyes.

Kakashi’s progress with summoning isn’t as successful. He nearly always has a member of the pack with him now and he tries to spend time with them equally. Bull’s a little too big for the clinic, however, and Urushi is too unpredictable. Shiba really can and _will_ eat anything, which the Nara medics are dismayed to learn. Shikaku’s sigh is worse than a dozen verbal reprimands when he finds Shiba munching through a cuff of a blood pressure monitor. Kakashi treads lightly around the clinic for the next few days, loath to summon another dog and test the Nara wrath. The clinic staff have only ever been kind to him, unlike most shinobi of his father’s generation, and he doesn’t want to muck things up. But Shikaku never mentions the incident again, not even when a replacement monitor miraculously appears on the reception desk one morning, much to the confusion of the entire staff.

The pack become ‘the clinic dogs’ amongst the patients. The children, in particular, take great delight in petting Akino’s head and fawning over Bisuke’s long, droopy ears. Kakashi doesn’t often summon Ūhei or Guruko during his shifts. Nervous Ūhei loathes the bustle of the clinic, and given Guruko’s habit of scampering off and hiding in ridiculous places, it probably isn’t wise to let him loose across the Nara compound.

Kakashi spends most of his time with Pakkun. “Face it, pup, I’m your favourite,” he says, his stubby legs kicking happily as Kakashi rubs his stomach. He oftens stays the night at Minato’s apartment, sat on Kakashi’s lap at dinner or curled up on the end of bed. Kushina is particularly enamoured with him for reasons that Kakashi cannot fathom; he thinks Guruko is Minato’s favourite, and Rin is slowly coming around to the idea of Bisuke. Shiba tags along to one of their team dinners - because if he’s going to eat something then it may as well be food - and hits it off with Obito in _seconds_. In a single word, it’s a _riot_ , and it’s just as well they’re not at Minato’s favourite barbeque place because Shiba’s never allowed back to the restaurant again.

“I can’t take you anywhere,” Kakashi says, and Shiba whines.

Minato says, “I know that feeling,” but he doesn’t sound all too mad.

Having the dogs around is fun, but Kakashi doesn’t improve at summoning them. They still summon themselves based upon an unspoken schedule, and never more than three at a time. Minato encourages him to have patience, smiling proudly all the while. Gai encourages him to train like a maniac until he can summon even the _greatest_ of the canines. Kakashi appreciates the sentiment, even if the victory pose and the sparkles are a bit too much, but hopes that he and the chakra-mother never meet.

Summer stretches on and an autumn chill sets in. Thunderstorms roll over the evenings and long through the nights, and Kakashi’s thoughts linger on his father as did the rain on the night of his death. Winter cannot come soon enough. He sleeps fitfully through the storms, often waking in a cold sweat. Minato doesn’t say anything about Kakashi yawning through training, but Kushina pulls Kakashi aside one night before bed and talks him through some meditation techniques. He can’t imagine her meditating for _anything_ and he grumbles as much, and a peculiar look passes across her face before she laughs.

“I said the same thing to my teacher back home,” Kushina explains, and that strange, fiery presence within her seems to stir. “But if anybody could teach me to sit still, it was her.”

Kakashi accepts the lesson - and that some things are better left unanswered.

He almost forgets his tenth birthday in the onslaught of training, clinic duty, and the evermore frequent C-rank missions that take them out of the village. In fact, he receives a B-rank mission the day before his birthday that displaces him from the village for a week. It’s been a while since Kakashi ran missions with anybody except Team Minato, but on the grand scheme of things, Sarutobi Asuma and Shiranui aren’t too bad. Sarutobi is one of Gai’s friends and is friendly enough; he gets along with Shiranui, at any rate, and neither of them complain about Kakashi completing their three-man team as the medic. Shikaku has taken him out of the village a few times to apply his knowledge to the field, but neither Sarutobi or Shiranui know any medical jutsu, so Kakashi’s on his own.

It’s fine - they’re fine. Sarutobi isn’t at Gai’s level of close-combat fighting (and thus also isn’t at Kakashi’s), but he’s good. He walks away from the scuffle with only a few bruises, twirling his chakra-blades around his knuckles. Shiranui’s a fucking idiot who _somehow_ picked up on Minato’s memo to _always protect the medic_ and earns himself a nasty laceration across his shoulder. It could have easily been avoided had he done the smart thing and _dodged_ ; Kakashi may be almost a head shorter than his teammates but he isn’t a pushover, and he glares a weak laugh from Shiranui as he stitches up his arm.

They make it back in one piece, right on time. Sarutobi claps Kakashi on the back as they exit the mission office and then laughs as Kakashi almost pitches him through a wall.

“Guess Gai was right about you, after all,” he says, _whatever that means_. “You should get dango with us sometime.”

“It’s called _making friends_ ,” Kushina says that evening, when Kakashi recounts the mission over dinner. She waves a dumpling at him with her chopsticks, and her smile is full of food but wide. “What better way to do that than over food?”

Minato is pottering around somewhere in the apartment. Kakashi wishes he were doing the same, if only to escape Kushina’s shit-eating grin. “I don’t need more friends.”

“Sure you do - it means more presents! And speaking of presents, we missed your birthday, didn’t we?”

Kakashi shrugs. “It doesn’t matter to me.”

Kushina’s enthusiasm wavers slightly, but only for a moment. “ _Okay_ , that wasn’t the answer I was looking for. But look! We’ve got you presents!”

Kakashi blinks as Minato reappears and unrolls a storage scroll across the table. Kushina picks up their bowls just in time to save them, and one end of the scroll rolls along before tipping into Kakashi’s lap. The seals burst open with a pulse of chakra, revealing a small collection of objects ranging from well to questionably wrapped.

“Uh -”

“Happy birthday! Open ours first, it’s the one on the top.”

Kakashi swallows, unsure what to say. Every year since his father’s death, he’s received a total of three presents on his birthday - one from Dai, one from Gai, and one from an anonymous sender with no note or address. He doesn’t see one like that this year. Instead, there’s a present from Minato and Kushina, another from Minato, and one each from Rin, Obito, and Gai. Kakashi handles Obito’s present with trepidation, deciding to leave it till last. One present doesn’t have a label, but when he unwraps it to reveal a small, wooden puzzle box, there’s a note folded on top that reads: _Do not eat_. He smiles and pockets the note to show Shiba later.

Minato’s kind enough not to subject Kakashi to a birthday cake. He insists of buying dumplings for dinner tomorrow, since they weren’t sure when Kakashi would be back from his mission, and the rest of the evening is a simple affair. He’s content with that. As it grows late, he excuses himself to bed to muddle through the puzzle box, sealing everything else back into the scroll. Pakkun assumes his usual spot on Kakashi’s bed and Shiba trots along behind, which means it’s the dogs who notice the package left on Kakashi’s pillow.

“Hey boss, what’s this?” Shiba calls, nudging it with his nose. It’s vaguely book-shaped and wrapped in gaudy, pink birthday-themed paper. There’s no label or postage stamp. It could be dangerous and he should probably assume it is, but a similar parcel has appeared on his birthday for the past three years.

Kakashi slices it open with a kunai. From it he pulls a plain, black scarf, and a leather tool roll containing an array of scalpels and medical scissors. There’s space for a few, narrow vials as well, and a pocket which looks ideal for soldier pills. Kakashi inspects it thoroughly but finds nothing to suggest the sender, and then hands it over to his dogs to sniff.

“Can’t smell anything on it,” Pakkun says. “Just like last year. Might wanna clean those scalpels though, just in case.”

Kakashi does one better by sterilising them with a jutsu. They’re good blades, from what he can tell, and the clasp of the tool roll contains a chakra-sensitive seal. He can code that to his chakra signature to ensure no-one else can open it. It’s surprisingly paranoid, for a tool roll, and it makes Kakashi wonder who thought of such a gift.

He supposes he’ll never know.

 

 

 

The New Year approaches as the autumn rains quiet into snow. In typical Nara fashion, Shikaku waits until the last possible moment before informing Kakashi that he’s due to take three exams. Kakashi has, in fact, sat one of the med-nin exams before: level one. It was simple enough: a basic introduction to medical jutsu and a practical exam to prove that he was competent enough to qualify as a med-nin at the lowest level. The level two qualification allows med-nins to work in hospitals under supervision, and teaches the basis of emergency surgery out in the field. The third level proves that a med-nin is capable of working unsupervised and unassisted, both in the village and the field, in all aspects except those covered by the fourth and final level: surgery involving chakra pathways and training other medics.

When Kakashi says that he’s already taken the first level, Shikaku scoffs. “The bear minimum may be enough on paper, but you’re a _Nara_ apprentice now. You’ll retake the level one exam and pass it with a result that I’m satisfied with. I’ve entered you to take the level two exams at the same time. Then we’ll continue your training and you’ll take level three in the spring. Level four is your own problem.”

Kakashi nods. That seems reasonable. Every lesson is one lesson more than he ever expected to take with Shikaku, so he’s grateful for whatever time Shikaku will give. The level four exam is a huge step up from the level three, so he’s not surprised that Shikaku doesn’t want him running around the Nara compound for years to come. There’s no point arguing the retake either; he can do better this time and he _will_.

“The level two exams involve a written component, a practical component, and an interview,” Shikaku explains, ticking them off his fingers. “These will take place at the hospital.”

Kakashi grimaces at the mention of an interview, and then grimaces further at the hospital. His examiner will no doubt be one of the head medics that turned him away. Hopefully Shikaku’s reputation is enough to deter any bias.

“When do I take the exams?” he asks, considering how best to fit revision around his timetable. He can sacrifice Sundays since they’re free from training and clinic work. Mondays might be feasible, too. Gai and Rin would probably allow him to miss their Saturday trainings, but Kakashi finds himself reluctant to. Gai’s just _so much_ , but it’s strange not living with him anymore. Gai certainly doesn’t yell about _the Springtime of Youth_ and their rivalry any less, but something has changed. There’s no time to worry about that now, though, especially when Shikaku replies:

“Tomorrow afternoon.”

“To - _what_? But -”

Shikaku ignores the sputtering. “You’re excused from your shift and I’ve informed Namikaze. You can have the morning to prepare. Report back to me once you’re finished. Questions?”

 _Why didn’t you inform me?_ Kakashi wants to shout - but he holds his tongue. The patients in the waiting room won’t appreciate it and it’s unbecoming of a shinobi to lose their temper. But he would very much like to throttle Shikaku anyway, especially when he croaks “No?” and Shikaku has the gall to laugh.

 

 

 

Kakashi aces his exams - of course he does. Shikaku deems his results “good” and says nothing more of the matter, but when Kakashi turns up with Akino in tow for his next shift at the clinic, the on-duty staff crowd around to offer their congratulations. They’ve all pitched in for a gift as well, and Kakashi only realises he’s dodged a bullet when one of the receptionists explains that none of the scrubs would fit him, so they had to think of something else. The Konohan scrubs are an _eyesore_ , and the medics all laugh when he can’t hold back a sigh of relief.

Minato offers his own congratulations at training the next morning, although he was present when Kakashi collected his results from the hospital. Rin and Obito aren’t aware of that, though, although it’s suffice to say that they’re accustomed to Kakashi’s presence at Minato’s flat by now.

“Well done to Kakashi for passing his med-nin exams,” Minato says, and he twitches as though to ruffle Kakashi’s hair. He usually only does this in private, but sometimes the need seems to compel him beyond rhyme and reason. Kakashi isn’t above substituting himself with a log if his sensei gets any stupid ideas.

“Oh congratulations!” Rin says.

“Yeah, cool,” is all Obito has to offer. “What does that mean?”

“No more D-ranks,” Kakashi drawls, and this, at least, prompts a cheer from Obito.

Minato laughs. “It _means_ , Obito, that Kakashi is officially more qualified to save our lives on missions than I am. Which means I think it’s about time we start thinking about the chūnin exams, don’t you?”

“We’re gonna be _chūnin_?” Obito cries, fist-bumping the air. His earmuffs almost topple from his head in his excitement and he yelps to catch them. “ _Ack_ \- that’s awesome!”

Kakashi crosses his arms, partly to make a point and partly because it’s cold. “Sensei -”

“I know, don’t worry,” Minato interrupts, holding up his hand. The woolly scarf obscures most of his smile. Against the backdrop of the snowed-in village, he is a beacon of yellow and gold. “You’re already a chūnin. That _does_ make things a little tricky since genin are entered in three man teams. Ideally, I’d train and enter the three of you together but - well, that’s not possible. That doesn’t mean we can’t all train together, though. You’re still a team - and you will be once you’re chūnin, too. Obito, Rin, we can start training in more advance techniques, and this way, Kakashi can train as a medic with us as well. I’ll have a think and find someone to take Kakashi’s place - but only temporarily, of course. Just for the exam. But it’s a ways off yet - the next exam is too soon to enter you two, so it’ll have to be the next year. But that doesn’t mean we can’t start training now! We have time. Do you guys know how the chūnin exam works?”

After a lengthy pause, it’s apparent that Rin and Obito do not.

Kakashi takes pity on them (and also wants to begin training to warm up in all this snow) and starts the questioning off: “Will it be in Konoha again?”

“I think so,” Minato says, although he doesn’t sound sure. “Yours was, wasn’t it?”

“Are the exams always in the village?” Rin asks.

“Not always.” Minato shrugs one shoulder with a grimace. “But we’re at war. It wouldn’t be safe to send our genin elsewhere.”

 _Or bring foreign genin into the village_ , is what he doesn’t say. The conflict with Earth isn’t a topic that Minato likes to bring up; Kakashi tried wheedling information from Shikaku once, but outsmarting a Nara is an impossible task. Shikaku didn’t seem particularly _happy_ about it, but he answered every one of Kakashi’s questions - and has done ever since.

“We could take them!” Obito announces, puffing up his chest to look even more ridiculous. Obito’s naivety will land him in trouble, one day, of this Kakashi is sure, and he glances at Rin to see if she shares the same apprehensions. It’ll be up to them to get Obito _out_ of trouble, after all.

“The village just seems so peaceful,” Rin mutters, casting her gaze across the snow. The world in winter is eerie, white-bright and sharp but muffled in a way that cannot be put into words. There is a peace about it, though, a cold, never-ending peace. “It’s strange to think…”

 _Strange_ is one word for it, Kakashi supposes. He doubts it’s what Minato is thinking, and he doubts it what his father thought all those years ago.

“Will we be sent to the front-lines?” he asks.

Minato’s sigh is all the more obvious with the cold. “As genin, no,” he replies, and he looks so gut-wrenchingly _relieved_ that Kakashi’s chest twists. “But if peace agreements with Iwa continue to fall through, then I imagine chūnin will start being recruited for the war effort too.”

“So -” Rin begins, and she seems embarrassed to ask: “Do we really _want_ to be chūnin?”

“ _What_?” Obito cries, grabbing the edges of his goggles with his mittens. “You _chose_ to go to the Academy, didn’t you?”

Rin’s eyes widen and then her face crumples with hurt. “Not all of us had the _choice_ , Obito,” she snaps, and Kakashi’s eyebrows shoot up. Rin doesn’t anger so easily and he has never, not in all these months they’ve been training together, heard her raise her voice at Obito. There’s a quiet _uh_ that may be from Obito or Minato, but Rin stamps her foot into the snow and rants on: “Just because your family’s a big clan and it doesn’t matter if some people aren’t shinobi doesn’t mean it’s like that for everyone! You met my parents - you know my family wasn’t big! Minato-sensei’s not from a clan either. And Kakashi’s family -”

“Don’t bring my family into this,” Kakashi warns, and Rin’s mouth shuts with a _snap_. “But she’s right, Obito. My father used to take me on his missions before I could talk.”

“But that’s _cool_ ,” Obito whines.

“No, that’s _stupid_. There wasn’t anyone else to look after me as a kid. I had to become a shinobi to look after myself. But Rin - we can’t hide from the war. It’s going to happen even if we do nothing, even if you’re still a genin. We need to be ready.”

“You said you wanted to be strong enough to protect your friends, didn’t you Rin?” Minato adds, and despite them all he is calm, watching his students with an unwavering pride. If Rin’s mention of his family has upset him, then nothing in his expression betrays the hurt. Truly, the team are privy to next to nothing about Minato’s family. He never speaks of them; it’s impossible to know if they’re even _alive_. Kakashi wonders if Kushina knows anything - and how wrong of him it would be to ask.

Rin nods, cheeks pink. “I do! But… No, you’re right. I do. I will be.”

“We’re gonna be so awesome!” Obito hollers. Where Rin’s face is red with embarrassment, his is bright with enthusiasm. “But I’m gonna be the most awesome, _obviously_. Once I awaken my sharingan, nothing will be able to stop us, right?” He grins and thrusts a closed fist towards her. It must be some sort of apology, because Rin smiles and fist-bumps him back.

Minato laughs - and it eases away the last of the tension. “Chūnin exams first. Then we can worry about who’s the most awesome.”

“It’s me!” Obito says; _it’s clearly not_ , Kakashi drawls, rolling his eyes.

“It’s Minato-sensei,” Rin says - and with an _oh yeah_ and an _I guess so_ , it’s the one thing, if nothing else, that they can all agree on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for this story. I've got a few things in mind for this series so hopefully I'll be able to start something else soon :)
> 
> All comments are appreciated! Thanks so much for reading.


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